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HISTORY 


THE  LAW,  THE  COUKTS^ 


AND 


THE     LAWYERS 


%i   paiit(, 


FROM  ITS  FIRST  COLONIZATION  TO  THE  EARLY  TART  OF  THE 
PRESENT   CENTURY. 


By    WILLIAM    WILLIS. 


PORTLAND: 
BAILEY    &z    NOYES. 

M  DCCC  LXIII. 


7  2i  3  ;?^>  ''■  '.^ 


Entered  according  to  an  Act  of  Congress  in  the  year  1863,  by 
In  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  District  of  Maine. 


PRINTED  BY  BROWN    THURSTON, 

COR.   OF  EXCHANGE   ANO  MIDDLE   Srs. 


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DEVOTED     TO    THE     HISTORY     OK    THE 


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IS     BESPECTFLLLY 


BY       THEIR       DROTHEK, 

WILLIAM      WILLIS. 


4.'JS5ay 


PREFACE. 


The  present  work  originated  in  the  preparation  of  a  lecture  for  tlie  Maine 
Historical  Society,  in  which  I  proposed  to  present  brief  sketches  of  the 
early  lawyers,  with  anecdotes  of  the  bar,  in  Maine.  The  materials  became 
so  copious  that  they  stretched  far  beyond  the  limits  of  a  discourse,  and  have 
assumed  the  shape  in  which  they  now  appear. 

I  had  for  a  long  time  desired  that  some  aged  member  of  our  bar  would 
collect  and  preserve,  for  the  instruction  and  amusement  of  his  brethren  and 
successors  in  the  profession,  reminiscences  of  the  early  lawyers  and  prac- 
tice, as  well  as  of  the  usages  which  prevailed  at  the  bar,  in  former  days. 
1  had  hoped  that  Judge  Mellen,  who  was  very  free  and  felicitous  with  his 
pen,  and  was  more  familiar  with  these  subjects,  with  perhaps  one  exception, 
than  any  of  our  old  lawyers,  would  have  favored  the  profession  with  his 
recollections  and  observations,  during  the  half  century  in  which  he  was  an 
active  and  leading  member  of  the  profession.  Or  that  Judge  Whitman,  who 
h  id  a  similar  experience,  and  a  keen  relish  for  the  curious  anecdotes,  the 
peculiar  customs  and  racy  jokes,  which  lingered  around  the  courts,  and  in 
the  memory  of  the  old  practitioners,  long  after  the  eccentric  characters,  who 
had  not  only  wit  in  themselves,  but  were  the  cause  of  wit  in  others,  had 
l)assed  to  a  higher  bar,  would  have  rendered  this  service.  But  these  hon- 
ored brethren  were  luiwilling  to  undertake  the  task  of  transmitting  these 
valuable  memorials. 

Solicitor  General  Davis,  more  competent  perhaps,  than  any  one,  kindly 
replied  to  my  letters.  In  one  of  his  answers,  dated  in  February,  1828,  he 
writes,  "  If  I  were  to  give  you  a  full  answer  to  all  your  inquiries,  it  would 


II  •  rUEFACE. 

amount  to  a  volume  of  the  size  of  Butler's  Reminiscences.  I  am  so  much 
engaged  at  present,  that  I  cannot  write  a  book  of  reminiscences,  but  I  will 
answer  some  of  your  inquiries."  The  next  extract  Mill  show  how  much  we 
have  lost  in  the  foilure  of  Mr.  Davis  to  record  his  observations.  "  From  my 
earliest  acquaintance  with  the  country,  in  every  part  of  which  I  have  dis- 
charged my  professional  duties,  I  can  recollect  and  farnisli  more  sketches  of 
the  nature  you  request,  than  any  other  man  now  alive,  because  I  am  the 
oldest  of  the  whole  of  them  ;  but  I  cannot  do  it  at  present."  In  another 
letter  he  says,  "  If  I  should  ever  think  of  putting  my  reminiscences  on 
paper,  they  would  embrace  a  work  of  more  extensive  character,  in  what 
relates  to  the  professional  gentlemen  in  Maine,  than  could  easily  be  obtained." 
Mr.  Davis  was  at  that  time  seventy  years  old,  and  still  filling  the  oflice  of 
Solicitor  General.  Before  he  left  it,  his  health  and  memory  failed,  and  the 
profession  and  the  public  lost  anecdotes  and  reminiscences  of  the  bar 
which  can  never  be  recovered. 

At  this  late  day,  I  have  undertaken  to  preserve  some  of  the  memorials  of 
the  past.  I  have  been  obliged  to  range  over  a  wide  field,  and  to  ask  the 
contribution  of  facts,  and  even  memoirs,  from  gentlemen  who  have  had  large 
experience  at  the  bar  and  in  general  society.  Among  these,  I  must  not  fail 
to  acknowledge  my  obligations  to  my  good  friends,  the  venerable  Jacob 
McGaw  of  Bangor,  John  H.  Sheppard  of  Boston,  Robert  H.  Gardiner  of 
Gardiner,  William  Allen  of  Norridgewock,  and  William  B.  Sewall  and  Judge 
Bourne  of  Kennebunk.  These,  with  Mr.  Dummer  of  Ilallowell,  Mr.  Abbot 
of  Castine,  Dr.  Bradley  of  Fryeburg,  and  Governor  Crosby  and  Judge 
Williamson  of  Belfast,  and  others,  have  rendered  me  cheerful  and  valuable 
services,  for  which  the  profession,  as  well  as  myself,  are  their  debtors. 

I  have  traced  the  history  of  the  law  and  of  the  courts  from  the  founding 
of  the  first  colony  on  the  shores  of  Maine  to  the  present  time,  and  have 
accompanied  the  progress  of  tho  Courts  by  a  chapter  on  reports  and 
reporters,  from  the  origin  of  this  important  department  of  the  law  down  to 
our  day.  I  have  also,  as  I  believe,  presented  a  sketch  of  every  lawyer  who 
practiced  in  our  courts  to  the  year  1800,  with  memoirs  of  prominent  members 
of  the  profession  from  that  time  to  tho  period  of  our  separation  from 
Massachusetts. 

I   should  liavo  been  glad  to  extend  ray  notices  to  all  the  principal 


PREFACE.  Ill 

lawyers  who  entered  the  practice  previous  to  1820,  when  we  became  an 
independent  State.  Many  of  those  gentlemen  have,  in  years  subsequent 
to  that  event,  taken  the  highest  positions  at  the  bar,  on  the  bench,  and  in 
public  life,  and  have  honored  the  profession  by  distinguished  talents  and 
upright  lives.  But  my  work  had  already  so  much  exceeded  my  original 
design  and  reasonable  dimensions,  that  I  felt  obliged  to  deny  myself  the 
pleasure  of  speaking  of  those  eminent  men  as  their  standing  and  merits 
deserve.  Their  names  will  endure,  and  some  future  gleaner  will  transmit 
them  to  the  coming  time. 

I  could  wish  that  my  labors  might  be  justly  entitled  to  the  commendation 
which  Lord  Bacon,  in  the  dedication  of  his  Essays  to  the  Duke  of  Bucking- 
ham, bestows  upon  that  nobleman, —  "  You  have  planted  things  that  are 
like  to  last."  If  mine  do  not  last,  I  hope  that  they  may,  at  least,  interest 
the  passing  generation. 


NOTE. 

While  this  volume  was  going  through  the  press,  some  changes  took  place  on 
the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court.  The  constitutional  terms  of  Chief  Justice 
Tenney  and  Justice  Goodenow,  having  expired  in  October,  1862,  their 
places  were  supplied  by  the  appointment  of  Justice  John  Appleton  of 
Bangor,  as  chief  justice,  and  Edward  Fox  of  Portland  and  Jonathan  Q. 
Dickerson  of  Belfast,  as  associates. 

Judge  Texxey  had  held  a  seat  upon  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court 
twenty-one  years,  having  been  appointed  a  justice  in  1841,  and  chief  in 
1855.  lie  was  born  in  Rowley,  Massachusetts,  graduated  at  Bowdoin 
College  in  181G,  and  after  a  successful  and  brilliant  practice  of  twenty 
years  in  Norridgewock,  he  was  raised  to  the  bench.  In  1850,  he  received 
from  Bowdoin  College  the  degree  of  LL.  D.,  and  has  been  a  lecturer  at  the 
college,  on  Medical  Jurisprudence,  thirteen  years. 

Judge  Goodenow  was  born  in  Ilenniker,  New  Hampshire,  in  1793,  and 
came  to  Maine  with  his  father  in  1802.  lie  was  awhile  at  Dartmouth 
College,  but  left  before  taking  his  degree.  lie  pursued  his  professional 
studies  with  Mr.  Holmes  at  Alfred,  and  commenced  practice  there  in  1818. 


IV  PREFACE. 

He  became  the  partner  of  Mr.  Holmes,  and  married  bis  daugbter.  In  1838, 
be  was  appointed  attorney  general  of  tbe  State,  and  beld  the  office  four 
years.  In  1841,  be  was  appointed  judge  of  tbe  District  Court  for  tbe  west- 
ern district,  wbicb  office  be  beld  during  tbe  constitutional  term  of  seven 
years.  In  1855,  be  was  raised  to  tbe  bencb  of  tbe  Supreme  Court.  Bowdoin 
College  conferred  upon  bim,  in  1820,  tbe  degree  of  A.  M.,  and  in  18G0,  that 
of  LL.  D.  In  1838,  be  was  cbosen  one  of  tbe  trustees  of  tbat  institution, 
and  continues  in  tbe  office.  Judge  Goodenow  bas  taken  a  distinguished 
part  in  the  politics  as  well  as  the  law  of  the  State,  is,  and  ever  bas  been,  a 
firm  supporter  of  all  its  good  institutions  :  be  retires  to  private  life  with 
unsullied  reputation. 

Since  the  above  note  was  prepared,  another  change  bas  taken  place  on 
tbe  bencb  of  the  Supreme  Court,  by  the  resignation,  in  February,  18G3,  of 
Judge  Fox,  who  had  been  appointed  from  tbe  Cumberland  Bar  to  the  place 
made  vacant  by  the  elevation  of  Judge  Appleton  to  tbe  chief  justiceship. 
Mr.  Fox  is  a  native  of  Portland,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in  the  class 
of  1834,  and  of  tbe  Cambridge  Law  School  in  1837.  He  occupied  a  promi- 
nent position  at  the  Cumberland  Bar,  to  which  be  again  returns :  be  bad 
been  solicitor  of  the  city  of  Portland  several  years  previous  to  bis  appoint- 
ment as  judge. 


PORTRAITS 


James  Bridge, 

154 

Prentiss  Mej^len, 

.     163 

EzEKiEL  Whitman,         .... 

2S9 

Stephen  Longfellow,        .         .         .         . 

.     300 

Samuel  A.  Bradley,     .... 

409 

Eeuel  Williams, 

.    444 

Timothy  Boutelle,        .... 

464 

Frederick  Allen, 

.    478 

AViLLiAM  B.  Sewall,     .... 

488 

William  D.  Williamson, 

.    517 

Simon  Greenleaf,         .... 

522 

Samuel  Fessenden,    .         .         .         .         , 

.     541 

Alkion  K.  Parkis,        .... 

665 

Luther  Pitch, 

.    592 

William  P.  Preble,     .... 

597 

Ether  Shepley, 

.     619 

John  II.  Sheppard,        .... 

600 

Henry  W.  Puller,           .         .         .         . 

.     700 

CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER    I.  Page    9 

THE     EARLIEST     JURISPRUDENCE     IN     MAINE GORGES,    GOVERNOR    OP 

NEW   ENGLAND  :   GRANT    OF   MAINE  TO  HIM  :    HIS    COURTS    AND  THEIR 

JURISDICTION FORMS  OF    PROCEEDING REVOLUTION    IN    ENGLAND 

AND    ITS    EFFECTS    ON    GOEGES    AND   HIS    PROVINCE. 

CHAPTER    II.  Page  25 

THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF    THE     LAWS    UNDER     THE    COLONY    OF    MASSA- 
CHUSETTS   THOMAS    MORTON. 

CHAPTER    III.  Page29 

PEMAQUID    PROVINCE  I    ITS    JURISDICTION    AND    JURISPRUDENCE. 

CHAPTER     IV.  Page36 

MAINE    UNDER    THE     CHARTER    OF    1C91 DECLARATION    OF    PRINCIPLES 

COURTS    AND    JUDGES COURT  OF  COMMON  PLEAS GENERAL   SES- 
SIONS  PROBATE   COURT CONDITION    AND    PROGRESS  OF    THE    BAR 

—  ADMISSION   OF    MEMBERS COUNTY   OFFICERS   IN    1800. 

CHAPTER    V.  Page  G3 

REPORTS     AND     REPORTERS  —  JUDGES    OF    THE    SUPREME    COURT    AND 
ATTORNEY    GENERALS. 


VI  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    VI.  PageTG 

PRACTITIONERS  UNDER  THE  CHARTER  :  CHECKLEY,  WATSON,  BULLIVANT, 
RICHARDSON,  READ,  AUCHJIUTY FEES SALARIES EARLIEST  PRAC- 
TITIONERS   IN    MAINE. 

CHAPTER    YII.  Page  83 

IRREGULAR    PRACTITIONERS BAR    RULES DAVID  SEWALL DISTRICT 

COURT LAWYERS   FROM    OTHER    COLONIES. 

CHAPTER    "V'lII.  Page92 

TRAVELLING  THE  CIRCUIT RESIDENT  LAWYERS  PRIOR  TO  THE  REV- 
OLUTION :  BRADBURY,  AVYER,  PARSONS,  THE  SULLIVANS,  LA'NGDON, 
CrSHING,    STOCKBRIDGE. 

CHAPTER     IX.  PageIOI 

SOCIAL    USAGES  OF  THE  BAR JOHN    FROTHINGHAM ROYAL   TYLER 

GEORGE    THACHER WILLIAM    LITHGOW,  JR. 

CHAPTER     X.  Page    111 

FIRST  LAWYERS  AFTER  THE  REVOLUTION  :  DANIEL  DAVIS,  JOHN  GARD- 
INER  BARRISTERS WILLIAM  WETMORE BUSINESS  AND  POPULA- 
TION   OF    MAINE EBENEZER   SULLIVAN. 

CHAPTER    XI.  Page128 

LAWYERS  FROM  1790  TO  1800:  THEIR  NAMES  AND  TIMES ISAAC  PAR- 
KER  SALMON   CHASE SAMUEL  C.  JOHONNOT MANASSEH  SMITH 

LAW    BOOKS DUDLEY    HUBBARD GEORGE    STACEY. 

CHAPTER    XII.  Paoe148 

WILLIAM    SYMMES PHINEAS    BRUCE SILAS    LEE JAMES    BRIDGE 

PRENTISS    MELLEN SAMUEL    8.    AVILDE GEORGE    WARREN AMOS 

STODDARD WILLIAM    HODGE THOMAS    RICE ADMISSION    TO    THE 

BAR  —  JOSEPH    THOMAS JOB    NELSON. 


CONTENTS.  VII 

CHAPTER     XIII.  Page193 

BENJAMIN    UASEY REUBEN    KIDDER NATHANIEL    PERLEY TUOMAS 

S.  SPARHAWK ALLEN    GILMAN JOHN    HATHAWAY ISAAC    STORY 

EDWARD    P.  HAYMAN SAMUEL  P.  GLIDDEN DANIEL    CAMPBELL 

JONATHAN    G.  HUNTON JEREMIAH    BAILEY. 

CUAPTER     XIV.  Page   225 

SAMUEL    THATCHER PETER   O.    ALDEN CYRUS    KING JOSIAH    STEB- 

BINS BENJAMIN  WHITWELL JOHN    MERRILL JAMES    D.  HOPKINS 

JDDAH   DANA NICHOLAS    EMERY THOMAS    BOWMAN NATHAN 

BRIDGE WILLIAM    WIDGERY. 

CHAPTER    XV.  PAGE275 

JOHN    HOLMES EZEKIEL    WHITMAN LEONARD    MORSE JOSIAH    W. 

MITCHELL JOHN  P.  LITTLE BOIIAN  P.  FIELD ANDREAV  GREEN- 
WOOD  DANIEL  P.  UPTON TEMPLE  HOVEY HENRY  V.  CHAMBER- 
LAIN  EBENEZER  BRADISII SAMUEL  DAGGETT NUMBER  OF  LAW- 
YERS, THEIR    INCREASE,  AND    COURSE    OF    PROCEEDINGS    IN    COURT 

LAWYERS    IN    PRACTICE    IN    ISOO. 

CHAPTER    XVI.  Page  338 

JACOB    MCQAAV BENJAMIN    ORR STEPHEN    LONGFELLOW WILLIAM 

LAMBERT BENJAMIN   GREENE WILLIAM  ABBOT WILLIAM  CROSBY 

BARRETT    POTTER ERASTUS    FOOTE. 

CHAPTER     XVII.  Page  89G 

EBENEZER   THATCHER JOSEPH   DANE HORATIO    SOUTHGATE WIL- 
LIAM   JONES SAMUEL    AYER    BRADLEY JOHN    WILSON GEORGE 

HERBERT JUDAH  MCLELLAN NATHAN  CUTLER JOSEPH  BARTLETT. 

CHAPTER    XVIII.  Page  445 

REUEL    WILLIAMS THOMAS    BOND TIMOTHY    BOUTELLE WOODBURY 

8TORER ELISIIA    P.    CUTLER FREDERICK    ALLEN  WILLIAM    B. 

SEWALL SAMUEL    HUBBARD — BENJAMIN    AME!3 NATHAN    WESTON 

WILLIAM    D.  WILLIAMSON. 


VIII  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER    XIX.  Pagb523 

SIMON    GREENLEAF CALVIN    SELDEN SAMUEL    FESSENDEN WILLIAM 

ALLEN    HAYES EDMUND    TLAGG ALBION    KEITH    PARRIS IIIRAM 

BELCHER. 

CHAPTER    XX.  Page577 

CHARLES    STEWART  DAVEIS CHARLES    SHAW< — LUTHER   FITCH WIL- 
LIAM   PITT    PREBLE SAMUEL     EMERSON    SMITH ETHER     SHEPLEY 

PELEG    SPRAGUE ASHUR    WARE. 


APPENDIX.  Page  647 

CLERKS    AND    SHERIFFS. 

CLERKS  OF   THE  COURTS.  Page  648 

DANIEL    SEW  ALL SAMUEL    FREEMAN JONATHAN    BOWMAN WILLIAM 

ALLEN JOHN    H.    SHEPPARD HENRY    SEWALL JOHN    MUSSEY 

OFFICERS  OF  THE    COURTS    OF    THE    UNITED    STATES    IN   MAINE    FROM 
THEIR   ORGANIZATION. 

SHERIFFS.  Page  678 

JOHN     WAITE  —  ICUABOD     GOODWIN  —  CHARLES     GUSHING  —  EDMUND 
BRIDGE. 


HENRY   W.   FULLER, Page   700 

INDEX, Page  703 


LAW     AND     LAWYERS. 


LAW    AND    LAWYERS. 


CHAPTER    I. 


THE   EARLIEST  JURISPRUDENCE   IN  MAINE. 


The  adventurers  who  first  settled  on  the  coast  of  Maine, 
from  the  Piscataqua  River  to  Pemaciuid,  were  detached  com- 
panies, without  government  or  any  bond  of  union.  They 
were  pursuing  their  private  gains,  and  were  generally  em- 
ployed in  lumbering,  fishing,  and  traffic  with  the  Indians. 
The  largest  of  these  companies,  those  at  Agamenticus, 
Winter  Harbor,  and  Richmond's  Island,  adopted  certain 
regulations  for  their  government,  called  combinations.  We 
have  some  fragments  of  records  referring  to  such  doc- 
uments, and  to  the  existence  of  a  court  among  the  colonists 
at  the  mouth  of  Saco  River,  prior  to  the  arrival,  in  the  sum- 
mer of  lt);U),  of  Wm.  Gorges,  the  nephew  and  deputy  of 
the  chief  proprietor,  of  which  the  following  is  a  specimen  : 
"  Feb.  7,  1G80.  It  is  ordered  that  Mr.  Thomas  Lewis  shall 
appear  the  next  court  day  at  the  now  dwelling  house  of 
Thomas  Williams  (Winter  Harbor),  there  to  answer  his 
contempt,  and  to  shew  cause  why  he  will  not  deliver  up  the 
romhiiia/ioii  belonging  to  us,  and  to  answer  such  actions  as 
arc  commenced  aa;ainst  him." 


10  KARLY    JURISPRUDENCE. 

Ill  consequence  of  freedom  from  restraint,  and  the  roving 
life  of  the  adventurers,  there  were,  among  the  settlers,  great 
dissipation  and  dissoluteness  of  manners,  which  is  amply 
testified  tu  by  the  early  records  ;  and  was  made  one  of  the 
causes  assigned  by  Sir  Ferdinando  CJorges  for  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  Governor  General  of  all  North  Virginia,  or  New 
England,  as  the  territory  was  then  called.  In  a  jTaper  from 
the  King,  under  date  of  Nov.  3,  1634,  endorsed  by  Gorges, 
it  is  declared,  "  Since  the  undertaking  of  the  plantations, 
complaints  of  various  abuses  have  been  received,  to  remedy 
whicli,  advice  has  l)een  taken  witli  the  Council  of  State,  and 
directions  given  for  a  Governor  to  be  sent  over,  to  take 
charge  of  public  affairs,"  &c.'  Although  this,  I  think,  has 
primary  reference  to  the  Plymouth  and  Massachusetts  com- 
panies, whose  agitations  in  politics  and  religion  were  partic- 
ularly offensive  to  the  royal  and  episcopal  government,  yet 
it  may  well  embrace  all  those  separate  companies  which 
were  then  occupying  tlic  coast  of  IMaine,  whether  with  or 
without  title.  In  another  paper,  under  date  of  Nov.,  1G34, 
endorsed  by  Gorges,  entitled  "  Considerations  necessary  to 
be  resolved  upon  in  settling  the  Governor  for  N.  E.,"  it  is 
stated  that  a  number  of  discontented  persons  are  got  into 
the  best  parts  of  tlie  country,  and  arc  having  their  su])port- 
ers  there  ;  it  is  asked  whetlier  it  would  not  be  policy  to  lay 
a  restraint  upon  this  until  license  could  be  obtained  that 
those  who  go  over  should  be  bound  to  conform  to  the  rites 
and  ceremonies  of  the  church.'  This  restraint  was  imposed 
by  the  king. 

Early  in  1035,  Gorges  was  expecting  to  receive  the  ap- 
pointment of  Governor  General  of  New  England,  and  made 
arrangements  for  an  early  departure ;  he  was  not  ajijjointed 
until  1037  ;  a  movement  was  also  made  to  revoke  the  char- 
ter of  the  Massachusetts  Company.     But  political  agitations 

'Early  Doc.  relating  to  Maine.     8ainsbury's  Col.  Papors 


GORGES,  GOVERNOR  OP  NEW  ENGLAND.        11 

commencing  at  this  time,  both  in  Scotland  and  England, 
withdrew  attention  from  colonial  affairs,  and  the  governor, 
instead  of  coming  to  America,  followed  the  king  to  Scotland. 
The  charter  was  consequently  not  disturbed.  In  a  letter  to 
the  Secretary  of  State,  Sir  Francis  Windebank,  March,  1(336, 
Gorges  writes,  "  I  beseech  you  to  do  me  the  favor  to  let 
their  lordships  know  that  for  as  much  as  I  perceive  it  is  his 
majcstic's  gracious  pleasure  to  assign  me  Gov.  in  N.  E."  he 
desired  them  to  give  order  for  repealing  the  "  Patents  of 
those  already  planted  in  the  Bay  of  Massachusetts,  that 
there  be  no  just  cause  left  of  contention  l^y  reason  thereof, 
when  I  arrive  in  those  parts." 

Ferdinando  Gorges,  grandson  and  heir  of  Sir  Ferdinando, 
in  a  petition  to  the  king,  1G75,  says,  "  The  king,  by  reason 
of  complaints  against  the  settlers  in  Mass.,  &c.,  resolved  to 
take  to  himself  the  gov't  of  N.  E,,  and  to  have  one  general 
gov.  there.  That  thereupon,  he  nominated  Sir  Ferdinando 
Gorges  to  be  Governor.  All  which  appears  by  the  king's 
declarations  and  commissions,  (July,  1637).  That  shortly 
after,  the  troubles  which  arose  in  Scotland  and  in  England 
prevented  pet'rs  grandf.  from  going  to  his  gov'nt,  but  he 
attended  the  king  into  Scotland."     (Early  Doc.  22.) 

The  declaration  referred  to  is  called  the  "  King's  Man- 
ifesto," and  is  dated  July  23,  1637.  (Sainsbury's  Col. 
Papers,  1,256.)  "  Tlie  king  declares  his  resolution  to  pro- 
vide for  the  future  good  of  those  adventuring  in  any  such 
undertakings  by  appointing  Sir  Fer.  Gorges  Governor,  and 
commands  that  none  be  permitted  to  go  into  those  parts 
without  Gorges'  knowledge  or  license,  and  directions  where 
to  settle."     (lb.) 

Massachusetts,  with  a  perseverance  and  ingenuity  never 
exceeded,  batllod  all  tiie  elTorts  of  her  numerous  and  pow- 
erful enemies  at  home  to  annul  her  act  of  incorporation. 
She  pursued  steadily  and  successfully  her  settled  purpose  of 


12  MAINE   GRANTED    TO    GORGES.       HIS    FIRST    COURT. 

maintaining  lier  independence  througli  a  period  of  140  years, 
until  the  Unal  triunipli  of  the  Rcvolntion. 

On  the  surrender  of  their  grand  charter  by  the  Plymouth 
Company  in  June,  1635,  the  country  was  divided  among 
the  several  members.  Gorges  received  the  portion  lying 
between  the  Piscataqua  and  the  Kennebec  Rivers,  which  he 
named  New  Somersetshire,  from  the  county  in  England 
where  his  estates  were  situated.  He  immediately  sent  over 
his  nephew,  Capt.  Wm.  Gorges,  to  take  formal  possession  of 
his  Province,  and  to  establish  his  authority  there.  The 
deputy  held  his  first  court  at  Saco,  March  21,  1636.  This 
is  the  first  legal  tribunal,  constituted  by  authority,  wliich 
existed  in  Maine.  The  members  of  the  court  are  styled 
commissioners ;  they  were  seven  in  number,  iind  resided  in 
different  parts  of  the  Province  :  Purchase  came  from  Bruns- 
wick, Cammock  and  Jossclyn  from  Scarboro',  Bonithon 
and  Lewis  from  Saco,  and  Godfrey  from  York  :  these  are 
historical  names,  and  all  but  Lewis  and  Cammock  lived 
many  years,  to  partake  of  the  agitations  and  trials  which 
awaited  the  foundation  of  this  now  flourishing  common- 
wealth. 

Previous  to  the  arrival  of  Wm.  Gorges,  some  kind  of  gov- 
ernment must  have  existed  in  the  different  settlements 
which  had  been  established  at  Kittery,  York,  the  mouth  of 
Saco  River,  at  Spurwink,  and  Casco.  It  is  probable  that 
they  were  held  together  by  voluntary  associations,  as  at 
Exeter  and  other  places  where  the  proprietors  had  provided 
no  legal  government.  A  few  scattered  fragments  on  the 
records  of  York  County,  indicate  such  to  l)e  the  fact.  By 
these  it  appears  that  courts  were  held,  in  which  civil  causes 
were  tried  and  verdicts  rendered  by  a  Jury.  One  of  these 
fragments  of  the  date,  Feb.  7, 1<»36,  is  an  order  that  Thomas 
Lewis,  who  was  one  of  the  original  patentees  of  Saco,  should 


JURISDICTION    OF   THE    COURT.  13 

appear  on  next  court  day,  to  shew  cause  why  he  will  not 
deliver  up  the  combination  belonging  to  us. 

The  court  established  by  Wm.  Gorges  assumed  general 
jurisdiction  over  the  whole  Province,  not  only  of  the  rights 
of  parties  but  of  government,  and  endeavored  to  introduce 
something  of  order  out  of  the  very  discordant  materials 
which  had  been  gathered  upon  the  different  points  of  the 
territory.  Actions  of  trespass,  slander,  incontinency,  for 
drunkenness,  and  "  rash  speeches,"  occurred  frequently, 
and  were  generally  determined  by  the  intervention  of  a  jury 
of  six  or  more  persons.  The  forms  of  proceeding  were  of 
the  simplest  character,  and  the  absence  of  lawyers  is  found 
in  tlie  entire  freedom  from  all  technicalities  in  the  pleadings 
and  verdicts :  they  are  marked  by  plainness  of  speech  and 
special  application.  A  single  specimen  may  be  cited  in 
illustration  :  "  Sept.  7,  163G.  Whereas  Mr.  George  Cleeve 
hath  not  paid  the  sum  of  £5.  10.  8.  unto  Wm.  Riall  accord- 
ing to  the  order  above  specified,  these  are  therefore  to 
authorize  you  in  his  majestie's  name,  to  make  seizure  and 
attach  any  manner  of  goods  and  chattels  then  belonging  to 
the  said  Cleeve,  for  the  full  satisfaction  of  the  debt  and  pen- 
alty above  specified,  and  this  shall  be  your  warrant."  This 
was  directed  to  the  constable  of  Saco,  and  signed  by  four 
members  of  the  court:  viz.,  Vines,  Bonithon,  Cammock, 
and  Lewis. 

The  criminal  proceedings  were  equally  simple  :  "  March 
23, 1G3<).  There  was  this  day  presented  by  Mr.  Theophilus 
Davis,  officer  for  this  place,  (Saco),  John  Wotton  for  being 
drunk  and  giving  ill  tearms  to  the  officer,  John  the  carpen- 
ter for  being  drunk,  James  Coale  for  being  drunk,  Wm. 
Scadlock  for  being  drunk.  John  Wotton  is  by  order  of 
court  to  make  a  pair  of  stocks  by  the  last  of  April  or  to  pay 
40s.  8d.  in  money.  Also  he  is  fined  5s.  8d.  for  being  drunk." 
Each  of  the  others  was  fniod  As.  Sd.  for  drunkenness. 


14  CHARTER   OF    1G30. 

But  none  of  tlic  charters  to  the  original  proprietors  con- 
tained any  jjowers  of"  government  ;  they  were  merely  terri- 
torial grants.  And  .^ir  Ferdinando  (Jorges  perceiving  how 
iuefifectual  these  were,  had  never  ceased  to  importune  the 
king  to  confirm  his  charter,  with  the  necessary  powers  to 
enforce  his  jurisdiction.  This  he  succeeded  in  accomplish- 
ing, and  a  patent  was  issued  to  him  under  the  Great  Seal, 
dated  April  8,  1639,  which  conferred  upon  him  unlimited 
power.  By  this  charter  the  name  of  his  territory  was 
ciianged  to  the  Province  of  ]\[aine,  which  is  its  first  appear- 
ance in  our  history.  Power  was  conferred,  "  with  the  assent 
of  the  greater  part  of  the  free-holders  of  said  Province,"  to 
make,  ordain,  and  publish  laws,  ordinances,  and  constitu- 
tions :  to  erect  courts  of  justice,  ecclesiastical,  civil,  and 
temporal :  the  church  of  England  to  be  the  religion  of  the 
Province  :  to  appoint  magistrates,  judges,  and  officers,  with 
appeal  to  the  Lord  Proprietor  :  to  raise  troops,  prosecute 
war,  build  forts,  towns,  and  cities  :  to  establish  markets  :  to- 
erect  manors  :  to  fit  out  a  navy  with  admiral  rights,  juris- 
dictions, &c.  More  ample  powers  Avere  never  bestowed 
upon  a  subject.  Gorges  immediately  set  himself  to  work  to 
organize  a  government  under  his  charter.  His  commission 
to  his  new  councillors,  and  his  ordinances,  bear  date  Sept. 
2,  1639.  By  these  Sir  Thomas  Josselyn  was  nominated 
deputy  governor,  and  Vines,  Champcrnoon,  Henry  Josselyn, 
Bonithon,  Hooke,  and  Godfrey,  his  councillors.  Sir  Thom- 
as declined  the  a})pointmeiit  of  deputy,  and  the  office  was 
conferred  by  Gorges  on  his  cousin,  Thomas  Gorges,  who 
arrived  at  his  Province  in  the  spring  of  1640.  This  was  an 
able  board.  Thomas  Gorges  was  educated  at  the  Inns  of 
Court,  and  was  a  lawyer,  the  first  and  only  one,  so  far  as  wc 
have  any  knowledge,  who  resided  in  the  Province  for  the 
first  hundred  years  after  its  settlement,  except  one,  Thomas 
Morton,  who  was  driven  from  Massuciiusetts  and  came  to 


gorges'  councillors.  15 

York  ill  1044.  Vines  liad  long  experience  of  the  country: 
lie  was  the  steward  and  confidential  agent  of  the  proprietor, 
and  had  a  grant  embracing  the  present  town  of  Biddeford, 
in  which  he  resided.  Cliampernooii  was  a  nephew  of  Sir 
F.  Gorges,  and  was  of  an  ancient  family  in  the  county  of 
Devon.  Henry  Josselyn  had  been  in  the  country  from  six 
to  nine  years,  was  of  a  good  family,  the  son  of  Sir  Thomas 
Josselyn  of  Kent,  and  was  placed  in  resjionsible  positions 
as  early  as  1034  in  New  Hampshire  and  Maine,  and  contin 
ued  to  sustain  his  character  in  various  fortunes,  as  a  prom- 
inent actor  in  our  provincial  affairs,  until  his  death  in  1082. 
Bonithon  was  here  in  1032  as  one  of  the  two  grantees  of 
the  territory  on  the  east  side  of  Saco  River,  now  embraced 
in  the  town  of  Saco.  He  was  a  man  of  energy  and  enter- 
prise, and  strenuously  opposed  the  extension  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts jurisdiction  over  this  province  in  1052,  and  the 
following  years,  for  which  he  was  proscribed  Wm.  Hooke 
was  son  of  Alderman  Hooke  of  Bristol,  England,  and  an 
early  settler  of  York,  as  was  also  the  remaining  councillor, 
Godfrey,  who  was  connected  with  our  political  affairs  forty 
years.  He  was  the  lirst  to  occujiy  the  large  tract  of  land 
at  the  mouth  of  York  River,  where  was  the  principal  plan- 
tation of  Gorges,  on  which  he  expended  much  money,  early 
erecting  a  manor  house  and  a  mill  there,  and  stocking  the 
])iace  with  cattle.  Gorges  in  his  "  Narrative,"  written  in 
1040,  p.  50,  says,  "  I  have  not  sped  so  ill,  I  thank  my  God 
for  it,  but  I  have  a  house  and  home  there,  and  some  neces- 
sary means  of  profit,  by  my  saw  mills  and  corn  mills, 
besides  some  annual  receipts,  sullicient  to  lay  the  foundation 
of  greater  matters,  now  the  government  is  established." 

These  were  the  men  to  whom  the  Lord  rrojirietor  con- 
(ided  the  affairs  of  his  large  domain  ;  they  composed  not 
only  an  executive  council  for  tlie  province,  but  a  court  for 
the  trial  of  all  criminal  otrenses,  and.  as  he  quaintly  said, 


16  JURISDICTION    OF   THE   GENERAL    COURT. 

to  determine  all  ditfcrences  arising  between  party  and  party, 
for  meum  and  ttium.  His  commission  to  them  was,  to  bold 
courts,  to  administer  oatbs,  to  determine  all  causes,  civil  and 
criminal,  public  and  private,  according  to  justice  and  equity. 
Tbis  power  also  embraced  admiralty  and  probate  jurisdic- 
tion. And  so  much  did  he  enter  into  details  in  the  affairs 
of  his  government  that  he  even  prescribed  the  forms  of  pro- 
ceeding, which,  to  prevent  embarrassment  among  a  people 
removed  from  all  technicalities  and  legal  api)lianccs,  were  of 
the  most  simple  kind,  as  the  following  summons  prescribed 
in  his  ordinances  will  show  :  "To  our  well  beloved,  A.  B., 
Greeting.  These  are  to  will  and  command  you  to  come  and 
appear  before  us,  the  council  established  in  the  Province  of 
Maine,  upon  the day  of ,  to  answer  to  the  com- 
plaint of .     Given  under  our  hands  and  seals." 

The  same  simplicity  in  form  was  carried  into  other  pro- 
ceedings of  the  court,  of  which  the  following  declaration 
and  verdict  in  the  year  1G47  are  examples.  "  To  the  wor- 
shipful Henry  Josselyn,  Esq.,  with  the  rest  of  the  commis- 
sioners and  assistants  now  assembled  at  Wells.  Captain 
Francis  Champenoone  Plf.  against  Wm.  Paine  of  Ipswich, 
declareth  against  the  said  Wm.  Paine  for  certain  monies  due 
for  a  cable  or  haw^ser  delivered  unto  his  servant  Wm.  Quirke 
to  the  value  of  twenty  pounds  or  there  about."  Tbe  verdict 
is  equally  plain :  "We  find  for  the  Plf.  fourteen  pounds 
sterling  and  cost  of  court." 

The  following  forms  of  a  declaration  and  i)lea  show  a 
degree  of  point  and  plainness  worthy  of  imitation.  "Am- 
brose Berry  Plf.  v.  John  Smith  Dft.  in  an  action  of  account. 
The  Plf.  declareth  that  the  Deft,  owetb  him  on  account 
between  them  the  lltli  day  of  May  last,  the  sum  of  X4.  11. 
8.  which  the  Deft,  rcfuscth  to  pay,  notwithstanding  he  hath 
been  often  thereto  required,  and  thereupon  he  l)rings  his 
action  and  craveth  for  his  damages,  <fec." 


FIRST  COURT    UNDER   THE    CHARTER   OF   1G39.  17 

"  The  answer  of  John  Smith  Deft.  The  Deft,  liereunto 
answercth  and  saith  that  he  doth  not  owe  the  Plf.  the  afore- 
said sura  of  £-^.  11.  8.  in  manner  and  form  as  the  Plf. 
declareth,  and  thereupon  puts  himself  upon  the  trial  of 
twelve  men."  This  record  indicates  the  hand  of  a  lawyer, 
and  that  Avas  probably  Thomas  Gorges. 

The  people  of  the  several  plantations  had  been  summoned 
by  warrant  from  "  Richard  Vines,  Steward  General  to  Sir 
Ferdinando  Gorges,"  "  to  appear  at  a  General  Court  to  be 
holden  at  Saco  on  the  25th  June  next,  for  the  settling  of 
government  within  said  province."  The  inhabitants  of 
Agamenticus  responded  by  sending  four  deputies  "  to  aiipear 
for  us  at  said  courte,  and  do  hereby  give  unto  said  parties 
full  power  and  authority  for  us  to  treate  and  conclude  of 
any  thing  which  in  their  discretion  shall  be  for  the  good  and 
benefit  of  this  plantation." 

The  first  session  of  the  court  under  the  charter  was  held 
June  25th,  1640.  The  following  officers  were  then  sworn  : 
Richard  Vines,  Esq.,  Richard  Bonithon,  Esq.,  Henry  Jos- 
selyn,  Esq.,  and  Edward  Godfrey,  Gentleman,  Counsellors  ; 
Roger  Garde,  Register,  Robert  Sankey,  Provost  Marshal, 
besides  an  under  marshal  and  constables. 

There  were  eighteen  entries  of  civil  actions,  and  nine  com- 
plaints. At  the  September  session,  the  Deputy  Governor, 
Thomas  Gorges,  presiding,  there  were  pending  twenty-eight 
civil  actions,  of  which  nine  were  jury  trials,  aiul  thirteen 
indictments.  This  first  general  court  divided  the  Province 
into  two  parts,  the  western  extending  from  the  Piscataqua 
to  Kenncbunk,  the  eastern  to  the  Sagadahoc  :  aiid  in  each 
an  inferior  court  was  established,  to  be  held  three  times  a 
year  ;  and  provided  that  there  be  one  general  court  for  the 
whole  Province,  to  be  held  at  Saco  every  year  on  the  25th 
day  of  June. 

Among  the  i)roccedings  of  tliis  first  court  was  an  action 


18  FORMS   OF   PROCESS, 

of  trespass  between  two  of  the  most  considerable  men  of 
the  Province,  —  Richard  Foxwcll,  the  son-in-law  of  Capt. 
Richard  Bonithon,  one  of  the  proprietors  of  the  eastern 
side  of  Saco  River,  now  Saco,  and  Capt.  Thomas  Cammock, 
ncpliew  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick,  and  jiroprietor  of  the  tract 
on  the  eastern  side  of  Blackpoint  River,  now  iScarboro'. 
AYe  may  therefore  suppose  that  the  best  legal  skill  of  the 
province  was  employed  in  the  case.  We  quote  the  record  : 
"  Tlie  Plaint,  here  declares  that  he  hath  for  these  foure 
years  or  thercaboute  lived  at  Blackpoynt  in  tlie  right  of 
Capt.  Richard  Bonithon,  his  father-in-law,  who  settled  him 
there,  and  gave  him  as  niuch  freedom  and  privilege  as  by 
virtue  of  his  patent  he  could,  ether  for  planting,  fishing, 
fowling  or  the  like,  which  was  the  main  cause  of  his  settling 
there.  Now  the  Plf,  further  declareth  that  the  deft,,  Capt. 
Thomas  Cammock,  hatli  often  times  and  still  doth,  both  to 
himself  and  otliers,  forbid,  and  by  violence  oppose  the  said 
privilege  of  lishing  for  Basse  and  lobsters  in  the  said  river 
of  Blackpoynt  and  the  shoales  tliereof,  to  the  great  danuige 
and  hindrance  of  himself  and  many  otliers,  it  being  the 
greatest  part  of  his  relicfc  for  himself  and  family  for  the 
yeare,  and  hath  also  assaulted  and  taken  away  the  goods  of 
the  Plf,,  and  further  threatenetli  him:  to  the  damage  of  20 
shillings  sterling  at  the  least,  for  which  tlie  Plf,  humbly 
desireth  this  court  for  a  *  *  according  to  law." 
"  The  answer  of  Capt,  Thomas  Cammock  the  deft, 
"  Hereunto  the  defendant  answereth  and  saitli,  that  l»y 
virtue  of  his  j)atciit,  the  Royaltie  of  fishing  and  fowling 
bclongcth  to  him,  and  not  to  be  violently  tresj)assed  by  force, 
and  hath  sustained  great  damage  by  their  fishing  and  com- 
ming  on  liis  ground  and  otherwise.  Though  lie  never  denied 
any  that  came  with  leave  or  in  a  fayre  way,  with  acknowl- 
edgement, but  thinketh  it  intrusion  to  be  difTringcd  of  his 
grant  which  all  pattcntecs  enjoy  :  for  redress  referreth  him- 
self to  the  court," 


FORMS   OF   PROCKSS.      PROBATE  JURISDICTION'.  19 

"  The  Plf.  and  deft,  liereupou  joyne  issue,  and  jiut  them- 
selves upon  the  trial  of  a  jury  of  twelve  men:  viz.,  Mr. 
Thomas  Page,  Mr.  Arthur  Me  Worth,  Mr.  George  Frost, 
Mr.  Richard  Tucker,  Mr.  Thomas  Williams,  Mr.  Wm.  Cole, 
John  Heard,  Edward  Robinson,  George  Puddington,  Francis 
Robinson,  Edward  Small,  and  John  West,  good  men  and 
true." 

"  The  jury  give  in  here  their  verdict,  and  find  with  the 
Plf.  and  give  him  for  damage  twenty  shillings  with  a  i'estau- 
ration  of  the  goods  again  which  were  taken  from  him  by 
the  deft.  Judgment  is  given  by  the  court  upon  this  verdict, 
and  execution  awarded." 

The  records  of  the  administration  of  estates  and  wills  are 
intermingled  in  the  same  books  with  other  jjroceedings,  the 
court  having  jurisdiction  in  Probate  as  well  as  in  other 
matters.  In  the  first  book  is  the  inventory  of  the  estate  of 
"  Richard  Williams  servant  to  Mr.  i\Iatthew  Craddock  Mer- 
chant," dated  June  15,  1635  :  he  died  in  March,  1635. 
The  following  is  the  record  in  this  case,  and  is  interesting 
as  being  the  Jiral  administration  granted  in  this  territory  : 

"  At  this  court  (1640)  commeth  Payton  Cooke,  gent.,  in 
the  behalf  of  himself  and  others  the  creditors  of  Richard 
AVilliams,  late  of  this  plantation,  who  died  here  intestate, 
aboute  foure  years  since.  And  craveth  of  this  court  power 
and  authority  to  take  into  his  custody,  all  the  goods  and 
cliattels  of  the  said  Richard  Williams.  Whereupon  the 
court  liath  granted  to  the  said  Payton  Cooke  letters  of  Ad- 
ministration, and  thereby  given  him  power  to  take  the  said 
goods  and  chattels  into  his  custody  and  the  same  to  admin- 
ister to  himself  and  the  said  creditors  i)roportionally,  so  far 
as  the  same  shall  extend,  according  to  the  law  of  England 
in  that  case  j)r()vidcd,  and  the  true  intent  and  meaning  of 
this  court.  The  said  Payton  Cooke  to  certify  at  the  next 
courte  holden  here  of  his  proceedings  herein." 


20  FIRST   EQUITY   PROCESS. 

As  we  liave  given  the  first  probate  record  of  our  State, 
we  will  close  this  portion  ol'  our  judicial  history  by  a  tran- 
script of  the  first  hill  in  equity  in  Maine,  and  probably  the 
first  in  New  England.     It  was  entered  June,  1640  : 

"  The  complainant  humbly  sheweth,  that  whereas  about 
the  14th  day  of  November,  1637,  there  was  an  account 
passed,  between  the  complainant  and  George  Cleeves  and 
Richard  Tucker,  upon  which  account  *  *  among  other  goods 
the  said  George  Cleeves  and  Richard  Tucker,  for  satisfac- 
tion, did  sell  and  deliver  to  the  complainant  one  thousand 
of  clapboards,  receiving  then  from  him  a  general  acquittance, 
which  the  said  complainant  did  then  likewise  give  ;  the  said 
George  Cleeves  and  Richard  Tucker  then  promising  the 
complainant,  that  if  he  could  not  enjoy  the  said  clapboards, 
that  they  would,  notwithstanding  the  said  ac(iuittance,  give 
him  satisfaction  for  them,  according  to  the  rate  he  took 
them  ;  notwithstanding  the  said  George  Cleeves  and  Richard 
Tucker  did  formerly  know  that  the  said  clapboards  were  in 
controversy,  neither  can  the  Plf.  enjoy  them  ;  and  they 
utterly  refuse  to  give  the  complainant  any  satisfaction  for 
the  same.  Whereupon  he  humbly  entreateth  this  court  to 
take  the  same  into  consideration  and  to  grant  him  the  like 
privilege,  which  the  honorable  court  of  Chancery  affordeth 
all  his  majestie's  subjects  in  cases  of  this  nature. 

Your  humble  petitioner,        John  Hinkford." 

"  The  court  hath  ordered  the  dcfts.  to  answer  to  this  bill, 
at  the  next  court  to  be  holden  here." 

The  records  have  not  preserved  any  answer, 

Cleeves  and  Tucker  were  the  first  settlers  of  the  Neck, 
now  Portland,  in  1632. 

Besides  the  general  and  inferior  courts,  commissioners, 
corresponding  to  justices  of  the  peace  or  municipal  judges 
of  the  j)rcsent  day,  were  appointed  in  each  town  for  the 
trial  of  small  causes;    their  jurisdiction  in  civil  matters 


EFFECTS   OF   THE   REVOLUTION    IN    EN(;LAND.  21 

being  limited  to  forty  shillings.     From  their  judgments  an 
appeal  lay  to  the  higher  court. 

After  near  forty  years  of  incessant  effort  in  the  cause  of 
colonization,  and  at  the  cost  of  a  large  portion  of  his  estate, 
the  noble  founder  of  Maine  had  the  satisfaction,  at  last,  of 
seeing  established  in  his  extensive  and  beantiful  domain,  an 
administration  of  government  which  was  giving  protection 
to  the  scattered  colonists,  and  binding  them  together  under 
the  security  of  laws,  which,  by  the  charter,  they  would  have 
the  privilege  of  enacting. 

But  at  this  juncture,  new  and  alarming  difficulties  arose, 
which  soon  disturbed  the  order  which  had  been  established, 
and  blasted  the  hopes  of  the  unfortunate  proprietor.  In  the 
spring  of  1G42,  the  civil  war  broke  ont  in  England.  A  long 
course  of  arbitrary  measures  on  the  part  of  the  king,  and 
irritating  encroachments  and  bold  assertions  in  Parliament, 
of  the  rights  of  the  people,  brought  the  contending  parties 
to  the  end  of  negotiations,  and  to  an  open  and  severe 
conflict.  The  king  fled  to  York  and  was  joined  by  his  loyal 
friends,  while  Parliament,  supported  by  the  city  of  London, 
the  representative  and  center  of  the  popular  sentiment, 
made  active  preparations  to  maintain  the  principles  of  free- 
dom they  had  so  nobly  advanced. 

Gorges  gave  his  person  and  his  fortune  to  the  royal  cause, 
and  devoted  the  remainder  of  his  life  to  active  duty  for  his 
master's  service,  in  which  he  died  in  1(347  :  we  have  no 
information  in  regard  to  his  age,  but  from  the  part  he  took 
in  the  insurrection  of  the  Earl  of  Essex  in  IGOl,  forty-six 
years  prior  to  his  death,  he  must  have  been  at  least  seventy- 
five  years  old. 

The  troubles  in  the  mother  country  could  not  fail  to  bo 
felt  in  her  colonies.     Massachusetts,  witli  her  strung  Puritan   < 
tendency,  secretly  rejoiced  in  every  movement  undertaken 


22  rigby's  usurpation. 

ill  the  cause  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  ;  while  Maine  was 
C(iually  loyal  to  the  king  and  the  church.  It  was  not  long, 
however,  before  the  agitations  in  England  began  to  disturb 
the  harmony  of  the  i)C0[)le  here.  George  Cleeves,  the  first 
settler  of  Portland,  and  all  his  life  an  agitator,  went  home 
and  induced  Sir  Alexander  Rigby,  an  active  republican  and 
Parliamentarian,  to  interest  himself  in  the  affairs  of  this 
Province.  He  persuaded  him  to  get  a  foot-hold  here  by  the 
purchase  of  the  Plough  Patent,  as  it  was  called,  a  grant 
made  by  the  council  of  Plymouth  in  1630  to  John  Dy  and 
others,  extending  from  Cape  Porpoise  to  Cape  Elizabeth. 
The  title  was  wholly  invalid,  and  had  never  been  enforced. 
But  it  afforded  a  sufficient  color  under  which  to  hoist  the 
Puritan  flag,  which,  sustained  by  the  Puritan  power  in  Eng- 
land, and  the  sympathies  of  the  Puritan  Commonwealth 
adjoining,  succeeded  in  exercising  a  brief  authority,  and 
distracting  the  counsels  of  the  people  in  the  eastern  part  of 
Gorges'  Province.  Cleeves  was  sent  over  by  Rigby  as  his 
deputy  in  1648,  and  succeeded  in  holding  courts  at  Casco 
and  Scarboro'  for  seven  or  eight  years,  in  conflict  with  the 
courts  of  Gorges,  which  still  kept  up  their  claim  over  the 
whole  territory,  and  the  exercise  of  their  jurisdiction  in  the 
western  part  of  the  Province,  under  Vines,  the  faithful  ser- 
vant and  deputy  of  Gorges.  In  1645,  Vines,  weary  of 
conflict  and  agitation,  left  the  Province  and  settled  in  Bar- 
badoes,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  veteran  emigrant,  Edward 
Godfrey,  the  first  settler  of  York,  who  valiantly  and  persist- 
ently maintained  the  rights  of  Gorges  and  his  heirs,  until 
overpowered  by  a  superior  force. 

This  new  power  was  no  other  than  Massachusetts,  who, 
taking  advantage  of  the  trium))h  of  her  jjrinciplcs  in  Eng- 
land, and  dreading  and  hating  the  Episcopal  ))owcr  in  Maine, 
under  a  forced  construction  of  the  language  of  her  charter, 
assumed  title  and  jurisdiction  over  all  the  territory  lying 


THE    CLAIM    OF   MASSACHUSETTS.  23 

southerly  of  a  lino  drawn  from  Lake  Winucpiseogee  to 
Casco  Bay.  kShc  was  not  long  in  asserting  her  pretended 
title :  in  1G52  she  demanded  of  Godfrey,  the  governor,  a 
submission  of  the  people  to  her  jurisdiction  and  laws.  After 
a  strenuous,  but  inellectual  ojiposition  by  the  governor,  the 
iidiabitants,  receiving  no  aid  nor  encouragement  from  the 
])roprietor  in  England,  yielded  to  the  necessity  of  the  case. 
Those  in  the  western  part  of  the  Province  submitted  to  her 
jurisdiction  in  November,  1G52,  those  in  the  central  part, 
Cape  Porpoise  and  Saco,  in  July,  1053  ;  and  in  July,  1658, 
after  a  most  desperate  resistance  by  the  sturdy  Episcopalians 
and  loyalists,  the  Rev.  Robert  Jordan,  Ilenry  Josselyn, 
Arthur  McWorth,  and  others,  a  majority  of  the  inhabitants, 
weary  with  the  conflict,  acknowledged  themselves  "  to  be 
subject  to  the  government  of  Massachusetts  Bay." 

This  usurpation  of  the  Bay  colony  corresponded  with 
that  of  the  Parliament  at  home  ;  and  though  successful,  it 
had  no  foundation  in  right.  I  will  not  say  that  it  was  not 
eventually  Ijcst  for  the  people  here  ;  it  resulted  in  giving 
them  a  good  and  permanent  government  and  stable  and  just 
laws.  The  Restoration  in  England  in  1660  brought  with  it 
new  complicities  in  this  Province ;  it  revived  the  hopes  and 
exertions  of  the  grandson  and  heir  of  Sir  Ferdinando  Gorges. 
Encouraged  by  the  king,  and  confirmed  by  repeated  decis- 
ions of  the  council  and  the  courts,  he  made  strenuous  efforts 
to  recover  his  power,  lie  ajjpointed  his  deputy  governor 
and  commissioners,  and  re-established  his  courts,  which  were 
in  constant  conflict  with  those  of  Massachusetts.  The  com- 
missioners of  Gorges,  ih  l()i)2,  Henry  Josselyn  and  Nicholas 
Shapleigh,  protested  against  the  acts  and  authority  of  ^las- 
sachusetts  ;  Jordan  and  Ncalc,  and  many  of  the  most  sub- 
stantial men  of  the  Province,  joined  with  them,  while  thoy 
were  opposed  by  Clceves,  Muiijoy,  and  others,  who  adhered 
to  ^rassachusctts,  and  a  state  of  violence  and  anarchy 
pervaded  the  whole  territory. 


24  THE    CLAIM    OF   MASSACHUSETTS. 

The  king's  coinmissioiicrs  came  over  in  1GG4  with  an 
order  from  the  king  to  Massachusetts,  to  deliver  to  the  agent 
of  Gorges  quiet  possession  of  his  Province.  The  general 
court,  through  their  agent,  replied,  claiming  the  territory 
l)y  their  patent,  Avhich  they  say  was  ten  or  eleven  years  prior 
to  that  of  Gorges,  and  transmitted  the  report  of  their  sur- 
veyors, who  run  the  line  from  Winnepiseogee  to  Casco 
Bay,  as  evidence  of  their  title.  This  controversy  was  kept 
up  by  Massachusetts  for  twelve  or  fifteen  years,  notwith- 
standing decrees  of  court,  orders  in  council,  and  peremptory 
demands  of  the  king,  uniformly  against  her,  until  that 
persistent  colony,  finding  her  own  charter  in  danger  by  a 
longer  contest,  finally  employed  an  agent  to  negotiate  with 
Gorges  for  the  purchase  of  his  whole  title,  and  succeeded  in 
procuring  a  conveyance  of  all  his  interests  in  the  Province 
in  1677,  for  .£1250  sterling.  She  thus  established  a  just 
claim  to  the  jurisdiction  and  territory,  which  was  acknowl- 
edged by  the  inhabitants,  and  her  supremacy  recognized. 

During  this  long  period  of  tliirty  years,  while  this  trian- 
gular controversy  was  raging,  law  had  but  feeble  sway  ;  its 
voice  could  not  be  heard  above  the  strife  of  passion  and  the 
din  of  war.  Courts  indeed  were  kept  up,  commissioners 
and  judges  held  their  terms,  sometimes  guarded  by  soldiers, 
and  sometimes  driven  by  them  from  their  seats  ;  but  it  was 
one  thing  to  decide  and  decree,  and  quite  another  to  execute, 
where  authority  and  jurisdiction  were  denied  and  resisted. 
It  may,  however,  be  affirmed  that  during  this  interregnum 
of  a  stable  and  recognized  government,  the  forms  of  pro- 
ceedings remained  of  the  simplest  kind,  and  no  person 
presiding  in  the  courts  under  any  of  the  governments  that 
claimed  title  in  the  Province,  was  educated  to  the  law,  or 
fiiniiliar  wiXh  its  principles.  The  law  did  not  exist  among 
the  people  as  a  science,  nor  was  its  practice  regulated  by 
men  trained  to  the  profession. 


CHAPTER    II. 


THE    ADMINISTRATION    OF    THE    PROVINCIAL     LAWS     UNDER 
MASSACHUSETTS. 


At  the  time  of  the  purchase  of  Maine  by  Massachusetts, 
1677,  the  whole  Province  was  lying  desolate  under  the 
scourge  of  the  Indian  war.  Massachusetts  had  defended 
various  parts  in  it,  had  kept  the  savages  at  bay,  and  brought 
them  to  sue  for  peace.  The  cost  to  her  was  eight  thousand 
pounds  sterling.  And  when  the  people  came  back  at  the 
close  of  the  war  in  1678,  they  returned  as  the  lawful  and 
acknowledged  subjects  of  Massachusetts.  Jordan,  her  most 
intulligent  and  active  opponent,  did  not  return ;  he  died, 
in  1679,  at  Great  Island  in  Portsmouth  harbor,  N.  H.,  to 
whicli  he  had  fled  from  the  Indians,  in  the  68th  year  of  his 
age  ;  and  Kpiscopalianism,  to  whose  service  he  had  given 
the  best  years  of  his  life,  may  be  said  to  have  died  with 
him  in  IMaine.  Cleevcs  and  ISIunjoy  were  also  dead.  God- 
frey had  returned  to  England,  and  Josselyn,  the  constant 
and  energetic  opponent  of  Massachusetts,  found  service, 
and  an  important  i)osition,  in  the  Duke  of  York's  province 
at  Pcma(]uid.  Thus  the  way  was  fairly  opened  for  tlie  peace- 
ful rule  of  the  Bay  Colony,  and  she  was  not  long  in  im- 
proving it.  Courts  were  immediately  established,  over  which 
3 


26  THE    COURTS. 

Thomas  Danforth  presided ;  and  in  1(380,  Danforth  was  ap- 
pointed President  of  the  Province.  He  at  once  proceeded 
to  York,  and  lield  an  assembly  composed  of  the  representa- 
tives of  the  people,  for  the  reorganization  of  the  govern- 
ment. 

Under  the  Colonial  charter  of  Massachusetts  to  the  year 
1692,  when  the  Province  charter  went  into  effect,  there  had 
been  in  Massachusetts  no  Supreme  or  Superior  Court,  tech- 
nically so  called.  The  jurisdiction,  which  by  the  Provincial 
charter  was  granted  to  that  Court,  had  been  exercised  by 
the  magistrates  or  assistants,  the  upper  branch  of  the  Gen- 
eral Court.  They  assumed  supreme  judicial  power,  and 
jurisdiction  in  all  matters  of  divorce,  the  probate  of  wills,  and 
the  settlement  of  the  estates  of  deceased  persons.  And  as 
their  object  was  the  establishment  of  a  religious  common- 
wealth, they  regarded  the  laws  of  Moses  "  better  precedents 
than  the  common  law,  or  the  decisions  of  Westminster." 

As  the  population  and  the  complicities  of  business  multi- 
plied, it  was  found  necessary  to  establish  local  courts ;  and 
a  tribunal  was  organized  iu  each  county,  consisting  of  mag- 
istrates residing  in  the  county,  appointed  by  the  General 
Court,  together  with  "  such  persons  of  worth  as  the  freemen 
of  the  county  should  nominate,"  not  to  exceed  five  in  all. 
The  courts  thus  constituted  had  power  to  appoint  clerks, 
summon  juries,  issue  precepts,  and  render  judgment,  having 
jurisdiction  in  all  cases  except  those  of  a  capital  nature. 
They  also  had  probate  jurisdiction,  and  the  regulation  of 
highways  and  other  county  matters.  This  tribunal,  called 
the  County  Court,  combined  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Common 
Pleas  and  the  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace.  An  appeal 
lay  to  the  Court  of  Assistants,  always  held  in  Boston. 

This  system  continued  in  Massachusetts  during  the  exibt- 
encc  of  the  colony,  but  was  not  extended  over  Maine,  as  it 


COURTS   AND  LAWYERS.  27 

was  decided  that  the  purchased  territory  must  be  governed 
according  to  the  charter  granted  to  Gorges. 

^Under  the  new  organization,  provision  was  made  for 
appeals  in  all  cases  from  the  Superior  Courts,  and  that  no 
sentence  should  be  given  in  capital  trials  without  the  concur- 
rence of  the  major  part  of  the  Assembly ;  that  either  party 
was  at  liberty  to  object,  before  pleading,  to  any  .of  the  jus- 
tices or  deputies.  And  it  was  ordered  that  the  laws,  orders, 
and  precedents  that  had  been  before  practiced  and  were  of 
use  in  the  Province,  should  remain  in  full  force  until  the 
General  Assembly  or  Council  should  take  order  therein. 

This  jurisdiction  continued  eleven  years  from  the  pur- 
chase, until  it  was  interrupted  by  the  second  Indian  war, 
which  devastated  the  whole  eastern  country.  During  the 
existence  of  the  colonial  government,  no  educated  lawyer 
practiced  in  the  courts  of  Maine,  or  sat  upon  the  bench, 
with  the  exception  of  Thomas  Gorges,  the  first  deputy  of 
the  proprietor,  who  was  educated  at  the  Inns  of  Court  in 
London,  and  presided  in  the  General  Court  of  the  Province 
in  1G40,  and  for  three  years  after. 

There  was  also  for  the  brief  period  of  two  years  from 
1(>48,  another  educated  lawyer  in  the  Province,  Thomas 
Morton,  who  had  been  master  of  the  revels  in  Merry  Mount, 
now  Quincy,  Massachusetts,  in  1625,  and  wrote  many  satir- 
ical pieces  uj)on  the  colony.  He  was  driven  out  of  Mas- 
sachusetts in  li)28,  and  went  back  to  England  ;  but  return- 
ing in  1G4B,  he  was  imprisoned  and  fined.  On  being  set  at 
liberty,  he  thouglit  it  expedient  to  abandon  the  Bay  Colony 
for  one  where  he  could  have  a  larger  liberty.  lie  came  to 
Aganicnticus,  now  York,  where  he  died  two  years  after, 
neglected  and  poor.  The  Memorialist  of  Plymouth  calls 
liini  "  a  pettifogger  at  Furuival's  Inn."  It  is  not  prol)able 
ihat  he  had  any  practice  in  our  courts.  In  the  council 
minutes,  May  5,  1635,  relating  to  the  surrender  of  the  char- 


28  COURTS  AND   LAWYERS. 

ter  of  New  England,  and  the  division  of  the  territory, 
Thomas  Morton  is  appointed  solicitor  to  prosecute  a  suit  for 
repealing  the  patent  of  the  Massachusetts  Company.^  It»is 
not  improbable  that  he  is  the  lawyer  before  referred  to,  and 
probably  had  a  better  reputation  at  home  than  in  this  coun- 
try, where  his  conduct  was  criticised  by  hostile  judges. 
His  satirical  "  rhymes  and  verses,"  on  the  peculiarities  of 
New  England,  gave  great  .offense,  and  for  which  the  gov- 
ernment of  Massachusetts  had  him  "  set  him  in  the  Bilbows  " 
in  1628. 

J  Sainsbury's  Colonial  Papers,  i.  p.  20G. 


CHAPTER    III. 


PEMAQUID   PROVINCE  —  ITS   JURISDICTION  AND   JURISPRUDENCE. 


The  remarks  we  have  made  in  the  preceding  pages  apply 
particularly  to  the  Province  of  Gorges,  embracing  the  terri- 
tory between  the  Piscataqiia  and  Kennebec  Rivers.  The 
central  portion  of  our  State,  lying  between  the  Kennebec 
and  Penobscot  Rivers,  was  under  different  jurisdictions. 
All  east  of  tlie  Penobscot,  with  the  exception  of  the  Castine 
Peninsula,  remained  a  wilderness,  in  its  native  condition, 
during  the  entire  17th  century. 

Pcmaquid  and  the  adjacent  territory  were  occupied  by 
permanent  settlers  as  early  as  1(325  ;  several  years  before,  it 
had  been  the  frequent  resort  of  fishermen  from  Europe, 
who  had  found  this  coast,  and  the  island  of  Monhegan, 
lying  twelve  miles  from  Pemaquid  Point,  the  most  conven- 
ient station  to  pursue  their  profitable  occupation. 

We  presume  no  government  or  administration  of  law 
existed  among  these  adventurers,  until  after  tlie  charter 
granted  by  the  Council  of  New  England  to  Aldworth  and 
Elbridge  of  Bristol,  England,  in  1G32  ;  although  as  early 
as  1G30,  the  very  year  that  Boston  was  founded,  it  liad  a 
population  of  about  five  hundred  persons ;  except  it  may 
liave  been  by  voluntary  association,  as  is  found  to  have 


30  PEMAQUID. 

been  the  case  in  most  of  the  other  settlements  on  the  coast. 
It  was  one  of  the  considerations  of  the  grant  to  Aldworth  and 
Elbridge,  that  they  had  undertaken  to  bnild  a  town  on  tlieir 
grant,  and  "  settle  divers  inhabitants  there  for  the  general 
good  of  that  country."  ^ 

By  that  charter,  powers  of  government  were  granted  to 
the  proprietors ;  and  they  were  authorized  to  "  establish  such 
laws  and  ordinances  as  are  for  the  better  government  of  the 
said  persons  so  transported,  and  the  same  by  such  officer  or 
officers,  as  they  shall  by  most  voices  elect  and  choose,  to  put 
in  execution." 

By  this  provision,  a  representative  government  was  estab- 
lished, the  inhabitants  being  authorized  to  elect  their  execu- 
tive officers  by  a  majority  of  votes.  Abraham  Shurt,  the 
agent  of  the  proprietors,  was  long  the  chief  magistrate  of 
the  colony,  and,  with  a  board  of  assistants,  administered  the 
government.  What  courts  were  established,  or  what  laws 
enacted,  no  record  remains  to  inform  us.  But  that  there 
was  need  of  laws,  and  an  efficient  administration  of  them, 
we  cannot  doubt,  from  the  magnitude  of  the  trade  and  busi- 
ness of  the  colonists,  and  the  intercourse  they  had  with  the 
mother  country  and  the  other  colonies.  It  was  at  one  time 
the  seat  of  the  most  considerable  transactions  of  any  settle- 
ment upon  the  New  England  coast.  Shurt  was  sent  over 
by  his  employers  in  1626,  to  take  charge  of  their  interest  at 
Monhegan,  and  afterwards  as  the  manager  of  their  affairs 
under  the  new  patent.  He  appears  to  have  been  active, 
intelligent,  and  faithful ;  and  Mr.  Thornton,  in  his  interest- 
ing account  of  ancient  Pcma(|uid,  in  the  fifth  volume  of  the 
Maine  Ilistorical  Collections,  attributes  to  him  the  autlior- 
ship  of  the  brief  and  comprehensive  formula  liy  Avhich  the 
acknowledgment  of  the   deeds  in  Maine  and  Massachusetts 

iSainsbury's  Colonial  Papers,  i.  141, 


PEMAQUID.  31 

lias  ever  been  certified.  The  deed  from  the  Indian  sachems, 
of  the  Pemaquid  territory,  to  John  Brown,  dated  July  15, 
1625,  bears  the  certificate  of  acknowledgment  in  the  well 
known  terms,  "  personally  appeared  and  acknowledged  this 
instrument  to  be  their  act  and  deed,  at  Pemaquid,  July  24, 
1G26.  Before  me,  Abraham  .Shurt."  We  know  of  no  such 
form  prior  to  that.  Shurt  was  living  in  1662,  at  the  age  of 
80,  "  or  thereabout,"  as  he  expresses  it  in  a  deposition  given 
in  December  of  that  year.^ 

This  grant  passed  out  of  the  hands  of  the  heir  of  the 
original  proprietors  in  1650,  and  the  controverted  titles,  in 
various  sources,  from  the  Indians,  English  patentees,  and 
under  possessory  rights,  became  the  subject  in  after  years  of 
a  furious  and  most  bitter  controversy,  which  was  only  settled 
by  the  interference  of  the  government  of  Massachusetts, 
and  then  by  compromise,  in  1812. 

f  During  a  period  of  twenty  years  from  this  time,  there 
seems  to  have  been  a  very  inefficient  administration  of  law 
in  that  Province.  The  commissioners  of  Charles  II.,  in 
1664,  visited  this  portion  of  the  State,  and  give  a  very  unfa- 
vorable view  of  its  condition  at  that  time.  They  say, 
"  Upon  Shipscot  River  and  upon  Pemaquid  8  or  10  miles 
asunder,  arc  three  small  plantations  belonging  to  his  royal 
highncsse,  the  biggest  of  which  hath  not  above  30  houses  in 
it  and  those  very  mean  ones.  The  people  for  the  most  part 
are  fishermen,  and  never  had  any  government  among  them." 
The  commissioners  endeavored  to  establish  order  and  civil 
government  there,  and  for  that  purpose  appointed  most 
respectable  persons,  living  in  other  parts  of  the  State,  as 
magistrates,  among  whom  were  Henry  Josselyn  of  Scarboro' , 

J  Mr.  Williamson,  in  his  History  of  Maine,  says,   "  Abraliam  Shurt,  Esq., 
ilied  at  Penia(iuid  about  1G80."    i.  G03.    We  know  not  upon  what  anthorit)-^ 
it  is  probably  an  error. 


32  PEMAQUID  :  ITS  COURTS. 

Robert  Jordan  and  George  Munjoy  of  Falmouth.  It  is 
evident  that  the  commissioners  underrated  both  the  popula- 
tion and  condition  of  that  colony. 

At  this  time  it  had  passed  into  the  hands  of  James,  Duke 
of  York,  brother  of  the  king,  by  a  double  title,  first  in  IGGS, 
by  purchase  from  Lord  Stirling,  who  had  a  grant  of  it  from 
the  Council  for  New  England,  and  second,  by  a  grant  from 
the  king,  March,  1665.  But  this,  from  various  reasons,  did 
not  become  available  until  1673  ;  and  when  the  Governor  of 
New  York,  which  was  also  granted  to  the  Duke,  assumed 
the  administration  of  government  there,  it  became  an  append- 
age of  the  Colony  of  New  York,  and  was  represented  in  its 
General  Assembly.  Courts  were  established  by  the  Council 
sitting  in  New  York,  as  follows :  "  June  24,  1680.  In 
Council,  Ordered,  that  some  persons  be  appointed  to  go  from 
here  to  Pemaquid  for  holding  courts."  "  June  26.  Sag- 
adahock  magistrates  or  officers  to  continue,  the  courts  to  try 
only  for  40s.  instead  of  £5  formerly  granted  them."  "  Mr. 
Potter,  Lawrence  Dennis,  and  llichard  Redding  to  be  com- 
missioners and  assistants  in  the  courts  of  session  to  try  to 
<£20."  The  noted  Sir  Edmund  Andros  was  governor  at 
this  time,  of  the  Duke  of  York's  possessions  on  this  conti- 
nent ;  and,  as  such,  issued  a  commission  to  Henry  Josselyn, 
who  had  formerly  been  one  of  Gorges'  commissioners,  resid- 
ing in  Scarboro',  and  others,  to  be  a  court  of  session,  and 
"  to  act  according  to  law  and  former  practise."  This  court 
held  its  sessions  in  June  and  November.  Justices  of  the 
Peace  were  also  appointed  from  time  to  time,  with  authority 
to  hear  and  determine  causes  civil  and  criminal. 

Thomas  Gyles  lived,  at  the  time  of  the  first  Indian  war, 
at  Merry  Meeting  Bay  ;  he  afterwards  settled  at  Pemaquid, 
and  was  made  chief  justice  of  the  court  there,  as  his  son, 
John,  affirms.     Ue  was  killed  by  the  Indians  in  1680. 

John  Jordan,  the  eldest  son  of  the  Rev.  Robert  Jordan 


PEMAQUID.  33 

of  Cape  Elizabeth,  was  appointed  by  Governor  Andros,  a 
special  justice  for  Cornwall,  in  1680. 

None  of  these  persons  were  educated  to  the  law,  but  we 
may  suppose  from  their  rank,  position,  and  opportunities, 
that  they  were  well  qjialified  to  discharge  the  duties  required 
of  them.  Josselyn,  in  particular,  had  for  more  than  forty 
years  served  as  assistant,  commissioner,  and  judge,  under 
the  various  governments  which  had  existed  in  the  western 
part  of  the  State ;  and  from  his  high  birth  as  a  son  of  Sir 
Thomas  Josselyn,  we  may  suppose  that  he  had  been  well 
instructed  in  the  learning  of  his  day,  before  he  came  to  the 
country.  He  always  maintained  a  high  character,  and  died 
at  an  advanced  age  in  the  confidence  and  respect  of  all  who 
knew  him. 

The  governors,  for  the  time  being,  Andros  and  Dongan, 
occasionally  visited  the  Province,  which  was  called  the 
County  of  Cornwall :  the  principal  place  was  Pemaquid, 
which  was  constituted  a  port  of  entry,  and  made  a  shire 
town :  it  had  paved  streets,  was  defended  by  one  of  the 
best  forts  on  the  coast,  and  was  surrounded  by  a  respectable 
and  busy  population.  The  county  embraced  all  the  settle- 
ments between  the  Kennebec  and  Penobscot  Rivers,  over 
which  the  Governor  of  New  York  exercised  almost  despotic 
jurisdiction.  Quite  a  large  commerce  was  carried  on  with 
Europe,  and  the  other  English  colonies  on  the  coast,  of 
which  masts,  lumljer,  furs,  and  fish  constituted  the  principal 
exports,  and  for  which  wines,  liquors,  coin,  and  various 
kinds  of  merchandise  were  received  in  exchange.  A  col- 
lector was  appointed  for  Pemaquid  City,  and  his  instructions 
from  the  Council  in  New  York  are  minute,  and  as  formal  as 
those  emanating  from  our  own  Secretary  of  the  Treasury. 
The  people  were  jealous  to  maintain  the  character  and 
importance  of  that  place  ;  and  in  a  ])etition  to  the  Governor 
and  Council  of  New  York,  they  ask  that  "  Pemaquid  may 


34  PEMAQUID. 

Still  remain  the  metropolitan  of  these  parts  because  it  ever 
have  been  so,  before  Boston  was  settled.-' 

The  Province  of  Pemaquid  included  the  thriving  settle- 
ments on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Kennebec  River,  with 
Arrowsic  and  Parker's  Islands.  At  the  commissioners'  court, 
held  at  Shecpscot  in  ^^eptember,  IGGo,  their  principal  inhab- 
itants, among  whom  were  Hammond  and  Parker,  took  the 
oath  of  allegiance  to  the  proprietor.  And  Lawrence  Denny, 
or  Dennis,  a  resident  there,  was  afterwards  commissioned 
one  of  the  justices  of  the  court  in  the  Province. 

Before  tliis  time,  however,  the  inhabitants  on  the  Kenne- 
bec had  been  under  the  government  of  the  Plymouth 
Colony,  l)y  virtue  of  the  charter  granted  to  William  Brad- 
ford, in  1G20  ;  and  by  him,  in  1G40,  assigned  to  the  colony. 
It  was  used  by  that  colony  for  forty  years,  merely  as  a 
source  of  revenue  from  the  salmon  and  shad  fisheries,  and 
traffic  in  lumber  and  furs.  They  had  a  magistrate  and 
agents  there  to  preserve  order  and  regulate  their  trade ;  but 
never  regarded  it  as  the  place  of  a  permanent  settlement. 
In  IGGl  the  colony  sold  the  patent  to  some  wealthy  men  in 
Massachusetts,  Antipas  Boies,  Edward  Tyng,  Thomas  Brattle, 
and  John  Winslow  ;  but  the  inlial)itants  were  few  and  scat- 
tered, and  no  regular  government  was  established  in  it,  until 
the  Duke  of  York  took  possession  of  the  country. 

In  September,  1686,  the  Duke  of  York,  who  had  now 
become  James  II.,  transferred  the  jurisdiction  of  his  eastern 
territory  to  Massachusetts,  which  immediately  assumed  the 
government  over  it.  Plis  order  is  thus  headed,  "  Royal 
order  for  the  surrender  of  Pemaquid  to  Massachusetts," 
and  goes  on  to  say,  "  Whereas  we  have  thought  fit  to  direct 
that  our  port  and  country  of  Pemaquid,  in  regard  of  its 
distance  from  New  York,  be  for  the  future  annexed  to  and 
be  continued  under  the  government  of  our  territory  and 
dominion  of  New  England,"  lie  orders,  <fcc. 


PEMAQUID  TRANSFERRED  TO   MASSACHUSETTS.  35 

There  was,  undoubtedly,  disaffection  and  insubordination 
among  the  people,  and  it  was  difficult  for  a  government  so 
far  removed,  to  keep  them  in  subjection.  They  had,  from 
the  roving  habits  of  the  people,  their  freedom  from  a  regular 
system  of  law,  and  their  distance  from  any  controlling 
authority,  acquired  ideas  of  liberty  and  a  free,  democratic 
spirit,  which  made  them  hard  subjects  for  such  a  desultory 
jurisdiction  as  was  exercised  over  them.  The  better  part 
had  long  desired  a  firm  and  stable  government,  and  had 
applied  to  Massachusetts  to  take  them  under  her  protection. 
Massachusetts  had  now  attained  the  object  of  her  pursuit 
and  ambition.  She  felt  that  her  own  security,  in  a  measure, 
depended  upon  her  power  and  right  to  control  the  unquiet 
spirits  which  occupied  the  territories  adjacent  to  her,  and 
with  whom  she  had  long  had  intimate  commercial  and 
political  relations.  Her  efforts  were  at  last  crowned  with 
success,  and  slie  lost  no  time  in  giving  stability  to  the  insti- 
tutions in  her  new  acquisitions. 

The  second  Indian  war,  which  broke  out  soon  after,  1689, 
interrupted  her  plans,  and  instead  of  establishing  a  peaceful 
government,  she  was  called  upon  to  defend  the  territory, 
and  to  rescue  the  inhabitants  from  imminent  peril.  And 
before  it  was  over,  the  new  charter  of  1(591  was  granted, 
which  united  with  the  old  Bay  Colony,  that  of  Plymouth, 
the  whole  territory  of  Maine,  and  also  Nova  Scotia. 


CHAPTER    IV. 


MAINE   UNDER    THE   CHARTER  OF    1691.      COURTS   AND   JUDGES. 


The  course,  now,  of  Massachusetts  was  more  jjlain  and 
easy  ;  instead  of  incessant  controversy,  and  the  embarrass- 
ment of  adapting  her  policy  to  various  systems  of  jurispru- 
dence, and  to  the  irregular  habits  of  lawless  adventurers, 
her  excellent  charter  gave  union  and  force  to  her  govern- 
ment. Her  wise  statesmen,  and  she  had  many,  immediately 
set  themselves  to  work,  to  strengthen  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  the  people,  and  to  confirm  the  foundations  already  laid 
for  republican  institutions.  Her  laws  were  hereafter  to  be 
uniform,  and  to  have  the  same  application  and  execution  in 
Plymouth  and  in  Maine,  as  in  Suffolk  and  Middlesex. 

The  first  act  she  passed,  under  the  new  charter,  June, 
1692,  was  to  continue  the  existing  laws  in  force,  until  the 
10th  of  the  ensuing  November.  The  second  act  was  a 
declaration  of  principles,  so  just  and  simple,  and  such  a 
foreshadowing  of  the  great  doctrines  enunciated  emphat- 
ically, eighty-four  years  afterwards,  as  the  basis  of  the 
Revolution,  that  I  think  they  ought  to  be  recalled  to  our 
notice.     They  say : 

"  Be  it  declared  and  enacted  by  the  governor,  council 
and  representatives  of  their  majesties  province  of  the  Mas- 


DECLARATION   OP   PRINCIPLES.  37 

saclmsctts  Bay,  That  all  and  every  the  rights  and  liberties 
of  the  people  shall  be  firmly  and  strictly  liolden  and  observed : 
Tliat  is  to  say,  That  no  freeman  shall  be  taken  and  impris- 
oned, or  be  disseized  of  his  freehold,  or  liberties,  or  his  free 
customs,  or  be  outlawed  or  exiled,  or  in  any  manner 
destroyed,  nor  shall  be  passed  upon,  adjudged  or  condemned, 
but  by  the  lawful  judgment  of  his  peers,  or  the  law  of  this 
province. 

"  Justice  nor  right  shall  be  neither  sold,  denied  or  deferred 
to  any  man  within  this  province. 

"  No  man  shall  be  twice  sentenced  for  one  and  the  same 
crime,  offence  or  trespass. 

"  No  tax,  assessment,  custom,  or  imposition  "whatsoever 
shall  be  laid,  assessed,  imposed  or  levied  on  any  of  their 
majesties  subjects  in  this  province,  or  their  estates,  on  any 
color  or  pretense  whatsoever,  but  by  the  act  and  consent  of 
the  governor,  council  and  representatives  of  the  people, 
assembled  in  general  court. 

"  No  man  of  what  state  or  condition  soever,  shall  be  put 
out  of  his  lands  or  tenements,  nor  be  taken  nor  imprisoned, 
nor  disinherited  nor  banished,  *  *  without  being  brought 
to  answer  by  due  process  of  law. 

"  All  trials  shall  be  by  the  verdict  of  twelve  men,  peers 
or  equals,  and  of  the  neighborhood,  and  in  the  county  or 
shire  where  the  fact  shall  arise.  " 

"  In  all  capital  cases  there  shall  be  a  grand  inquest. 

"  In  all  cases  whatsoever,  bail  by  sufficient  sureties  shall 
be  allowed  and  taken,  unless  for  treason  or  felony." 

A  "  Habeas  Corpus  "  act  was  passed  at  the  same  session. 

These  noble  sentiments  embody  an  extraordinary  advance 
in  civil  liberty,  —  the  cardinal  principles  of  the  Declaration 
of  Independence,  and  of  the  bill  of  riglits  adopted  in  our 
constitutions ;  and  show  the  flavor  of  the  spirit  and  the 
watchful  temper  of  the  men  who  were  molding  the  iustitu 


^^iH33i) 


88  COURTS   ESTABLISHED.      THE   JUDGES. 

tions  of  New  England,  and  preparing  the  way  for  the  inde- 
pendence of  foreign  sovereignty,  afterwards  so  gloriously 
achieved. 

They  followed  this  declaration  with  acts  for  quieting  men's 
possessions  of  land,  and  settling  the  titles  to  estates,  a  most 
needed  enactment  in  those  disturbed  times ;  another  made 
lands  and  tenements  liable  for  the  payment  of  debts ;  the 
next  established  courts  of  justice,  and  these  were  substan- 
tially the  same  as  they  now  exist.  They  were  the  justices 
of  the  peace  for  the  trial  of  small  causes ;  the  Quarter  Ses- 
sions held  by  the  justices  of  the  peace  for  the  county, 
corresponding  to  our  courts  of  county  commissioners  ;  the 
Inferior  Court  of  Common  Pleas  ;  the  Superior  Court ;  and, 
strange  to  say,  a  Court  of  Chancery.  The  last,  however,  was 
disallowed  by  the  home  government,  and  never  went  into 
effect.  The  governor  and  council  were  by  the  charter  made 
a  Court  of  Probate ;  a  Court  of  Admiralty  was  also  estab- 
lished by  the  crown. 

The  Superior  Court,  thus  established  for  the  first  time  in 
the  Province,  consisted  of  a  chief  and  four  associate  justices, 
who  were  Wm.  Stoughton,  chief  justice,  Thomas  Danforth, 
who  had  been  the  President  of  Maine  before  the  charter, 
Wait  Winthrop,  John  Richards,  and  Samuel  Sewall.  None 
of  these  had  been  educated  as  lawyers,  and  there  was  not 
at  that  time  an  educated  lawyer  on  the  bench  or  at  the  bar  ! 
Stoughton  had  been  a  popular  and  successful  preacher ; 
after  graduating  at  Harvard,  he  went  to  England  and  became 
a  fellow  of  Oxford  University  ;  he  was  a  man  of  learning 
and  ability.  Danforth  was  a  politician  and  a  statesman  ; 
had  been  Deputy  Governor  and  President  of  Maine,  and  had 
discharged,  for  many  years,  important  offices  witli  integrity 
and  wisdom.  Winthrop  was  the  grandson  of  tlie  first  Gov- 
ernor Winthrop:  he  was  educated  a  })hysician,  but  was  also 
a  popular  military  leader  and  statesman.     Richards  was  a 


I 


COURTS   AND   JUDGES.  39 

wealthy  merchant,  and  had  been  long  in  public  life.  Sewall, 
son  of  the  first  Henry  Sewall,  was  born  in  England,  and 
educated  for  the  ministry,  but  was  drawn  away  from  his 
profession  by  the  superior  attractions  of  politics :  in  1718 
he  was  appointed  chief  justice  of  this  court.  He  was  a  man 
of  learning,  and  the  most  accurate  lawyer  upon  the  bench ; 
he  did  much  to  introduce  a  correct  and  uniform  practice  in 
the  courts  ;  he  recommended,  in  1G90,  the  form  of  case  on 
book  accounts  instead  of  debt ;  the  admission  of  books  of 
account  as  evidence  originated  in  Massachusetts  before 
1(350.  He  was  the  ancestor  of  Chief  Jiv^tice  Samuel  Sewall, 
who  died  in  1814 ;  and  his  name  in  collateral  branches  has 
given  lustre  and  dignity  to  the  bench  and  bar  in  Massachu- 
setts and  Maine. 

No  educated  lawyer  held  a  seat  upon  the  bench,  during 
the  existence  of  the  Province  charter,  with  the  exception  of 
Benjamin  Lynde  of  Salem,  Dudley  of  Roxbury,  Trowbridge 
of  Cambridge,  and  William  Cushing,  who,  at  the  time  of 
his  appointment  in  1772,  resided  in  Maine.  Judge  Lynde, 
elevated  to  the  bench  in  1712,  was  the  first  educated  lawyer 
placed  upon  it.  Since  the  Revolution,  the  usage  has  been 
invariable  to  place  no  one  on  the  bench  but  regularly 
trained  lawyers. 

This  court  held  two  sessions  a  year  in  the  principal  coun- 
ties, but  the  trials  of  causes  arising  in  Maine,  Avhich  formed 
but  one  county  till  17G0,  were  held  in  Boston  or  Charles- 
town.  It  was  not  until  1699  that  a  term  was  granted  to 
this  State,  which  was  held  at  Kittcry  until  1743,  when  it 
was  removed  to  York.  This  continued  to  1700,  when  the 
counties  of  Cumberland  and  Lincoln  were  established :  a 
term  of  the  Superior  Court  was  first  held  in  Cumberland  in 
17G1  ;  in  Lincoln  not  until  178G  ;  both  held  in  June,  ))ut 
only  for  jury  trials. 

The   judges  who  held  the  first  term  at  Falmouth   lor 


40  COURTS   AND   JUDGES. 

Cumberland,  were  Lieutenant-Governor  Ilutehinson,  chief 
justice  ;  Benjamin  Lynde,  John  Cushing,  and  Peter  OHver, 
associates.  This  court,  established  in  1699,  consisted  of  a 
chief  and  four  other  justices,  and  so  constituted,  continued 
during  the  existence  of  royal  authority  in  the  colony.  The 
constitution  of  1780  changed  the  title  of  this  court  to  that 
of  the  "  Supreme  Judicial  Court,"  but  with  the  same 
powers  and  jurisdiction  as  its  predecessor  had,  and  with  the 
same  number  of  judges.  The  judges  first  appointed  by  the 
new  government  were  William  Cushing,  Nathaniel  Peaslec 
Sargent,  James  Sullivan,  David  Sewall,  and  Jcdediah  Fos- 
ter. The  court  thus  constituted  continued  until  1800,  and 
was  held  in  the  several  counties  by  a  full  bench  for  all  pur- 
poses, three  members  forming  a  quorum.  So  that  "  all  jury 
trials  were  in  effect  trials  at  bar,  were  conducted  in  the 
presence  of  the  full  court,  and  not  less  than  three  were 
competent  to  preside  at  such  trials."  This  system  was 
found  to  be  embarrassing,  as  questions  of  law  were  discussed 
and  decided  in  the  hurry  of  the  trial,  without  much  exam- 
ination, and,  as  often  happened,  with  a  divided  court.  It 
was  the  practice  also  for  different  members  to  charge  the 
jury,  and  they  often  gave  contradictory  opinions  upon  points 
of  law  arising  in  the  case.  But  as  the  circuits  extended  and 
business  increased,  it  was  found  that  the  court  could  not 
dispatch  the  constantly  increasing  business,  it  being  impos- 
sible for  the  full  court  to  travel  into  each  county  and  dis])ose 
of  all  the  actions.  The  conseciuencc  was,  a  large  accumula- 
tion of  causes  on  the  dockets,  and  great  delay  in  disposing 
of  them.  But  the  people  had  become  attached  to  tliis  sys- 
tem, and  were  reluctant  to  have  their  cases  tried  other  than 
by  a  full  court ;  and  the  legislature,  instead  of  adopting 
tl^e  only  practicable  remedy,  which  was  the  nisi  prius  sys- 
tem, by  wliich  jury  trials  are  conducted  by  one  judge, 
enlarged  the  number  of  judges  to  scveiiy  m  1800,  and  made 


I 


SUPREME   JUDICIAL   COURT.  41 

two  quorums,  so  that  the  court  could  be  held  in  two  places 
at  the  same  time.  They  also  divided  the  Commonwealth 
into  two  circuits,  an  eastern  and  western,  and  authorized 
the  court  to  be  held  in  each  county,  except  Suffolk,  by  three 
judges,  but  requiring  the  attendance  of  the  whole  seven  in 
Suffolk. 

But  this  change  not  relieving  the  difficulty,  an  act  was 
passed  in  1804,  by  which  the  number  of  judges  was  reduced 
to  five,  four  of  whom  to  constitute  a  quorum  ;  to  hold  one 
term  a  year  in  each  county,  except  Nantucket,  Duke's,  and 
Washington.  It  provided  that,  in  case  of  disability,  three 
might  hold  this  term,  and  that  another  term  should  be  held 
in  those  counties  by  two  or  more  of  the  judges  ;  but  that 
any  one  might  hold  the  court  and  discharge  its  duties, 
except  in  certain  cases,  among  which  were  all  criminal 
proceedings. 

Under  the  guidance  of  the  able  and  intelligent  men  who 
occupied  seats  upon  this  high  tribunal,  this  department  of 
government  was  gradually  acquiring  the  form  and  finish 
which  placed  it  upon  a  foundation  of  efficiency  and  security, 
and  made  it  an  honored  and  highly  ornamental  pillar  of  the 
State.  In  1805,  the  nisi  prius  system  was  completely  intro- 
duced, with  five  judges,  of  whom  three  might  hold  the  laiu 
term,  and  one  or  more  the  trial  terms,  as  it  now  exists  in 
the  old  Commonwealth. 

The  judges  of  this  court,  until  1792,  appeared  on  the 
bench  in  robes  and  wigs  ;  in  summer  the  robes  were  of  black 
silk,  in  winter,  of  scarlet  cloth.     Tlie  judges  of  the  Unito^  ';, 

States  Supreme  Court,  in  the  sessions  at  Washington,  still  j 

retain  the  robe ;  the  wig  disappeared  with  the  venerable 
William  Cushing. 

The  records  of  this  court  for  all  the  counties  were  kept 
in  Boston,  until  1797,  when  they  were  transferred  to  the 
custody  of  the  clerks  of  the  Common  Pleas  of  the  several 
4 


42  SUPREME  JUDICIAL  COURT. 

counties,  except  those  of  Lincoln,  Hancock,  and  "Washington 
in  Maine,  and  Duke's  and  Nantucket  in  Massachusetts.  It 
"was  made  the  duty  of  the  justices  of  the  Supreme  Court  to 
appoint  a  clerk  for  the  counties  of  Lincoln,  Hancock,  and 
Washington,  to  reside  in  and  keep  the  records  in  such  place 
in  the  county  of  Lincoln  as  the  court  should  direct.  The 
court  appointed  Jonathan  Bowman,  Jr.,  the  clerk  for  these 
counties,  his  residence  to  be  at  Pownalborough.  The  duties 
of  clerk  had  been  divided  between  a  stationary  clerk  and  a 
circuit  clerk :  the  former  made  up  and  kept  the  records, 
issued  executions,  certified  copies.  Sec. :  the  latter  attended 
the  judges  on  their  circuit,  and  discharged  tlie  duties  inci- 
dent to  that  office.  John  Tucker,  of  Boston,  was  the  circuit 
clerk  throughout  the  Commonwealth  for  many  years  ;  and 
Charles  Gushing,  brother  of  Judge  William,  sheriff  of  Lin- 
coln before  and  during  the  Revolution,  was  the  local  clerk 
of  Suffolk  and  Nantucket,  which  office  he  held  from  the 
close  of  the  Revolution  to  his  death  in  1810. 

By  these  various  advances,  the  system  of  jurisprudence 
in  Massachusetts  and  Maine  had  acquired  its  maturity,  and 
was  administered  in  its  highest  court  by  men  of  learning 
and  of  the  purest  integrity.  The  accomplished  Cliief  Jus- 
tice Dana  retired  from  the  bencli,  after  a  judicial  service  of 
twenty-one  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  the  more  learned 
Chief  Justice  Parsons.  He  was  followed  in  1813,  by  the 
amiable,  just,  and  upright  Sewall,  who,  after  a  year's  labor 
in  his  high  office,  was  suddenly  cast  down  by  death  ;  and 
t^ie  accomplished,  wise,  and  judicious  Parker,  who  had 
begun  his  professional  life  at  Castine,  and  continued  it  in 
Portland,  was  elevated  to  the  station,  which  he  honored  and 
adorned  for  a  period  of  sixteen  years.  He  was  succeeded 
by  Shaw,  his  peer  in  all  the  high  qualities  wliicli  give  lustre 
to  the  bench :  whose  recent  retirement  and  death  were 
deeply  lamented. 


I 


COURT   OF   COMMON   TLEAS.  43 

In  Maine,  the  nisi  prius  system  was  retained,  and  admin- 
istered by  a  chief  and  two  associate  justices,  until  1847, 
when  an  additional  justice  was  appointed.  In  1852  a  radical 
change  was  made  in  the  judicial  system  of  the  State  :  the 
Common  Pleas  was  abolished,  and  all  the  litigation  of  the 
State,  even  appeals  from  justices  of  the  peace,  was  cast 
upon  the  Supreme  Court,  then  increased  to  seven  judges. 
The  effect  of  this  system  has  been  to  clog  the  machinery 
of  this  tribunal  with  petty  causes  of  little  value  or  conse- 
quence, but  which  occupy  as  much  time  as  those  involving 
liigli  principles  and  large  values  ;  and  by  occupying  the  time 
of  the  court,  has  deprived  it  of  that  leisure  for  research  and 
deliberation  which  is  needed  to  give  it  a  high  intellectual 
character,  and  confidence  in  its  legal  decisions ;  and  by 
lowering  the  standard  of  legal  attainment,  has  had  a  tendency 
to  impair  the  authority  of  its  judgments,  and  the  reliance 
which  is  due  to  tlic  tribunal  of  final  resort. 


COURT  OF  COMMON  PLEAS. 

A  Common  Pleas,  called  the  Inferior  Court,  consisting 
of  four  judges,  was  organized  for  each  county.  The  judges, 
in  the  language  of  the  statute,  were  to  be  "  substantial  per- 
sons ;  "  practically  they  were  not  "  learned  in  the  law," 
but  tlicy  were  generally  prominent,  well-to-do  men,  who  had 
occupied  political  or  municipal  stations,  and  had  acquired 
the  reputation  of  honesty  and  capacity  for  public  employ- 
ment. Prior  to  the  beginning  of  the  present  century,  so 
far  as  my  examination  has  extended,  there  had  not  been  in 
Maine  one  educated  lawyer  on  this  bench.  The  first  that 
I  have  found  was  John  Frothingham,  who  was  a  regular 
practitioner  of  the  Cumberland  Bar,  and  appointed  in  1804. 
The  first  judges  of  this  court  all  resided  west  of  Biddeford  ; 


44  COURT  OF   COMMON   PLEAS. 

two  terms  a  year  were  lield  in  York,  and  two  in  Wells, 
until  1786,  when,  on  the  urgent  application  of  the  people  in 
the  central  portion  of  the  Province,  a  term  was  annually 
held,  in  June,  at  Falmouth,  now  Portland,  Mr.  Pepperell, 
afterwards  Sir  William,  was  then  its  chief  justice.  In  1760 
the  counties  of  Cumberland  and  Lincoln  were  incorporated, 
on  which  occasion  two  terms  of  the  Common  Pleas  were 
established  in  each  county.  Lincoln  then  embraced  the  old 
Sagadahoc,  or  Duke  of  York's  Province,  and  also  all  of 
the  State  lying  east  of  the  Penobscot  River. 

This  court  continued  with  the  same  jurisdiction,  and  the 
same  number  of  judges,  to  the  end  of  the  royal  government  in 
Massachusetts,  and  was  revived  under  the  Constitution,  with 
all  its  powers,  in  1782.  In  1804  the  number  of  justices  was 
reduced  to  three  in  each  county  ;  and  in  1811,  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  Gov.  Gerry,  the  old  system,  which  had  continued 
unimpaired  for  one  hundred  and  twelve  years,  was  abrogated, 
in  form,  at  least,  but  not  in  jurisdiction  or  substance,  and 
the  circuit  system  adopted :  by  which  the  Commonwealth, 
including  Maine,  was  divided  into  six  circuits,  of  which 
three  were  in  Maine ;  viz.,  the  first,  second,  and  third 
eastern  circuits,  in  each  of  which  a  chief  justice  and  two 
associate  justices  were  appointed.  Thus  constituted,  they 
remained  until  the  separation  of  Maine  from  Massachusetts ; 
when,  after  the  machinery  of  the  new  government  was  well 
under  way,  the  legislature,  in  1822,  established  a  court  con- 
sisting of  a  chief  justice  and  two  associate  justices,  whose 
jurisdiction  extended  over  the  whole  State  ;  either  one  to 
hold  the  terms,  and  to  receive  a  fixed  salary,  instead  of  the 
fees  of  court,  which  had,  for  the  hundred  and  twenty  years 
previous,  been  divided  between  the  judges  and  tlieir  clerk 
for  their  compensation.  The  justices  first  apjiointcd  for 
this  court,  were,  —  chief  justice,  Ezckiel  Whitman  of  Port- 
land ;  Samuel  E.  Smith  of  Wiscasset,  and  David  Perham  of 
Bangor,  associates. 


COURT  OP  COMMON   PLEAS.      JURIES.  45 

The  judges  appointed  by  Governor  Gerry,  under  the  act 
of  1811,  for  Maine,  were,  for  York,  Cumberland,  and  Oxford, 
Benjamin  Greene,  chief ;  Judah  Dana  of  Fryeburg,  and 
William  Widgcry  of  Portland,  associates :  for  Lincoln,  Ken- 
nebec, and  Somerset,  Nathan  Weston,  Jr.,  chief;  Benjamin 
Ames  and  Judah  McLellan,  associates :  for  Hancock  and 
Washington,  William  Crosby,  chief;  Martin  Kinsley  and 
James  Campbell,  associates.  Tliese  were  all  lawyers  but 
Widgcry,  Kinsley,  and  Campbell. 

This  intermediate  system  continued,  according  to  the 
constant  usage  of  the  country,  for  more  than  one  hundred 
and  fifty  years,  until  the  radical  change  took  place  by  the 
act  of  1852,  when  the  court  was  abolished,  and  its  duties 
transferred  entire  to  the  Supreme  Court. 

The  trials  in  these  courts  were  by  the  intervention  of  a 
jury.  Tliis  institution  came  in  with  the  first  settlers,  both 
in  Massachusetts  and  Maine.  In  the  first  court  held  in 
Maine  under  the  charter  to  Gorges  in  1639,  there  were  nine 
jury  trials,  and  some  cases  of  presentment  by  a  grand  jury. 
The  jury  for  trials  consisted  generally  of  twelve  men, 
although  there  are  instances  where  it  was  composed  of  a 
less  number.  The  indictments  were  brief  and  distinct : 
"  Mr.  Arthur  Browne  presented  by  the  Grand  Enquest  for 
swearing  two  oathes,  is  therefore  fined  by  the  bench  two 
shillings."  "  Mr.  George  Burdctt,  minister  of  Agamcnticus, 
is  Indicted  by  the  whole  bench  for  a  man  of  ill  name  and 
fame  :  infamous  for  incontinency,  a  publisher  and  broacher 
of  divers  dangerous  speeches,  the  better  to  seduce  that 
weak  sex  of  women  to  his  incontinent  practices,  contrary  to 
the  peace  of  our  sovereign  lord  the  King  as  by  depositions 
and  evidences  appear,"  ttc.  Four  indictments  were  found 
against  Burdctt  at  this  court,  on  which  he  was  fined  forty-five 
pounds  sterling. 

The  General  Court,  which  liad  jurisdiction  over  all  public 


40      GENERAL   COURT.      FIRST  CORPORATION.      PLEADINGS. 

and  private  concerns  of  the  Province,  granted  the  first  act  of 
incorporation  which  was  established  in  Maine.  It  is  as  fol- 
lows :  "  Whereas  there  were  certain  propositions  preferred 

to  the  general  court  by and  others  for  their  better 

encouragement  to  goe  on  with  the  work  of  making  iron,  Itt 
is  granted  and  ordered  that  they  shall  have  the  sole  manag- 
ing of  the  work  for  twenty-one  years,  allowing  iron  for  .£20 
per  tunn,  and  furnishing  the  country  with  bar  iron  within 
three  years,  and  permitting  any  man  to  come  into  the  com- 
pany within  one  month,  he  underwriting  50  shillings.  2d, 
tis  granted  that  they  shall  have  liberty  on  all  waste  ground 
to  have  stone,  earth,  wood,  way,  water  courses,  and  on  all 
appropriated  land  to  have  stone,  wood  and  earth  giving  rea- 
sonable satisfaction  as  two  indifferent  men  shall  judge  and 
ways  and  water  courses  free." 

3rd.  To  have  certain  land  and  plantation  privileges. 

4th.  To  be  free  from  taxes  for  seven  years. 

5th.  The  regular  laborers  in  the  works  to  be  free  from 
"  watching  and  training." 

6th.  All  the  adventurers,  agents,  and  assigns  to  have  the 
privilege  of  planters. 

It  was  not  until  after  the  new  charter  went  into  effect, 
that  the  forms  of  writs  and  procedure  in  court  acquired  any 
system,  and  it  was  much  later  that  the  forms  of  declaration 
were  settled.  In  1701,  the  General  Court  established  forms 
of  writs,  and  authorized  the  courts  to  frame  rules  of  i)rac- 
tice.  But  so  fixed  had  become  the  habits  of  the  judges 
and  the  practitioners,  that  it  was  several  years  later  that 
strict  legal  forms  and  technical  rules  were  adopted.  In 
1721,  Dummer,  in  his  defense  of  the  New  England  charters, 
says :  "  No  special  pleadings  are  admitted,  but  the  general 
issue  is  always  given,  and  special  matters  brought  in  evi- 
dence." Declarations,  difTercnt  from  the  English  practice, 
were  tlien  as  now  made  parts  of  the  writs,  as  Dummer  says, 


COURT  OF   SESSIONS.  47 

for  quicker  dispatch  ;  and  if  the  action  is  on  account,  the 
bill  is  annexed. 

No  rules  of  practice  were  adopted  by  the  courts  until 
after  the  Revolution  ;  although  the  bar  of  Suffolk,  particu- 
larly, had  found  it  necessary,  for  their  protection,  to  adopt 
some  regulations  in  regard  to  irregular  practitioners,  as  will 
be' noticed  in  another  place.  In  1701,  the  attorney's  oath 
was  prescribed,  and  was  the  same  now  used. 


COURT  OF  GENERAL  SESSIONS  OF  THE  PEACE. 

This  court  did  not  exist  in  Massachusetts  or  Maine  under 
that  name,  previous  to  the  adoption  of  the  charter  of  1691. 
In  Massachusetts,  the  "  County  Court,"  as  it  was  called, 
held  by  magistrates  living  in  the  respective  counties,  or  such 
magistrates  as  the  General  Court  should  appoint, "  with  such 
persons  of  worth  as  may  be  appointed,  at  the  nomination  of 
the  freemen  of  the  county,"  "  to  be  joined  in  commission 
with  the  magistrates,  so  there  be  five  in  all,  three  whereof 
may  keep  a  court,  provided  there  be  one  magistrate,"  em- 
braced the  jurisdiction  of  the  Common  Pleas  and  Sessions. 

The  jurisdiction  of  this  court  extended  to  all  cases,  civil 
and  crimuial,  except  divorce,  and  crimes  whose  punishment 
extended  to  life,  limb,  or  banishment ;  with  power  to  sum- 
mon juries,  appoint  clerks  and  other  officers.  They  also 
had  jurisdiction  as  a  Court  of  Sessions,  to  lay  out  highways, 
issue  licenses  to  innholdcrs,  &c.;  also  probate  powers  in  the 
settlement  of  estates.  They  combined  the  principal  juris- 
diction and  duties  of  the  Superior,  Inferior,  and  Probate 
Courts,  as  subsequently  cstal)lished,  —  the  Court  of  Assis- 
tants retaining  original  and  appellate  powers  in  certain 
cases.  In  Maine,  during  the  government  of  the  proprietor, 
the  Ceneral  Court  exercised  the  j)rincipal  jurisdiction  in  all 


48  COURT  OF  SESSIONS. 

matters  ;  but  from  the  commencement  of  the  civil  war  in 
England,  a  state  of  great  confusion  and  anarchy  existed 
here,  in  which  various  contestants  were  contending  for 
supremacy,  one  triumphing  one  day  and  some  other  the 
next,  in  which  the  administration  of  justice  was  a  mockery, 
and  the  rights  and  interests  of  the  people  wholly  disregarded. 
The  king  himself  became  a  party,  and  liyhis  commissioners, 
in  1664,  endeavored  to  restore  the  rights  and  jurisdiction 
of  the  heir  of  Gorges.  The  commissioners  divided  the 
territory  into  two  districts,  one  embracing  the  western  por- 
tion to  the  Kennebec,  the  other  the  Duke's  province  ;  and 
they  established  courts  in  them,  but  they  had  no  power  to 
enforce  their  decrees.  Where  Massachusetts  could  be  heard, 
she  planted  her  county  courts,  and  exercised  a  divided 
sway.  This  conjQict  was  kept  up  until  the  Indian  war  scat- 
tered courts  and  people,  and  put  an  end  to  the  exercise  of 
all  jurisdiction,  until  1679,  when  the  old  Bay  Colony 
restored,  under  her  right  as  a  purchaser,  a  stable  govern- 
ment, which  continued  over  the  few  inhabitants  who  returned 
to  the  desolate  country,  for  the  period  of  twelve  years,  when 
the  new  charter  went  into  effect. 

In  the  distribution  of  judicial  authority  under  the  charter, 
a  court  was  established  by  the  name  of  "  A  Court  of  General 
Sessions  of  the  Peace,"  to  be  held  in  each  county  "  by  the 
justices  of  the  peace  of  the  same  county,  or  so  many  of 
them  as  are,  or  shall  be  limited  in  the  commission  of  the 
peace,"  who  were  "  empowered  to  hear  and  determine  all 
matters  relating  to  the  conservation  of  the  peace  and  pun- 
ishment of  offenders,  and  whatsoever  is  by  them  cognizable 
according  to  law."  They  had  their  clerks  and  ofliccrs,  and 
power  to  summon  juries,  and  establish  rules  of  j)ractice. 
On  this  court  was  conferred  the  power  of  laying  out  high- 
ways, superintending  houses  of  correction,  granting  licenses 
to  innholders  and  retailers,  and  the  charge  of  the  financial 


COURT  OP  SESSIONS.  49 

and  prudential  affairs  of  their  several  counties,  in  addition 
to  such  jurisdiction  in  criminal  matters  as  related  to  the 
conservation  of  the  peace.  These  powers  continued  without 
essential  alteration,  during  the  existence  of  the  provincial 
government,  and  were  revived  Ijy  the  act  of  the  legislature 
of  Massachusetts  in  1782,  in  nearly  the  terms  of  the  original 
act.  This  court  was  established  on  the  same  principle  as 
the  English  "  Court  of  General  Quarter  Sessions  of  the 
Peace,"  and  its  powers  were  similar.  But  in  the  rapid  pro- 
gress which  took  place  in  the  public  and  private  affairs  of 
the  Commonwealth,  the  courts  were  gradually  adapted  to 
the  altered  circumstances  and  wants  of  the  people.  In 
1804,  all  the  jurisdiction  of  this  court  was  transferred  to 
the  Common  Pleas,  except  as  to  erecting  and  repairing  jails 
and  other  county  buildings,  allowing  and  settling  county 
accounts,  assessing  county  taxes,  granting  licenses,  laying 
out  highways  and  town  ways,  and  determining  the  damages. 
This  was  an  important  and  radical  change  which  has  con- 
tinued to  the  present  time  under  the  various  forms  of  the 
court.  In  1807,  the  organization  of  the  court  was  altered 
by  substituting  a  fixed  number  of  judges,  instead  of  the 
crowd  of  justices  of  the  peace,  which  had  before  occupied 
its  bench, —  one  chief  justice  for  each  county,  and  associates 
differing  in  number  according  to  the  extent  of  the  counties  : 
in  York,  Cumberland,  Oxford,  and  Lincoln,  there  were  four 
each;  in  Ivouuebcc  and  Hancock,  six;  Washington,  two ; 
who  had  the  same  ])0wers  as  were  conferred  by  the  act  of 
1804,  and  received  three  dollars  a  day  while  in  actual 
attendance,  and  two  dollars  for  every  ten  miles'  travel.  In 
1808,  the  name  of  the  court  was  altered  to  that  of  "  Court 
of  Sessions  ; "  retaining  the  same  powers.  In  1809,  an  act 
was  passed  to  transfer  the  duties  of  this  court  to  the  Com- 
mon Pleas ;  but  this  failed  to  give  satisfaction,  and  the  old 
"Court  of  Sessions"  was  re-established  in  1811.     It  was, 


50  COURT  OP   SESSIONS. 

however,  again  abolished  in  1814,  and  all  its  "  powers, 
authorities,  and  duties,"  except  in  Suffolk,  Nantucket,  and 
Duke's  Counties,  were  transferred  to  the  Circuit  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  ;  and  the  governor  was  authorized  to  appoint 
"  two  discreet  persons,  being  freeholders  within  each  county," 
to  be  "  Session  Justices  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  in  their  respective  counties."  They  were  to  be  asso- 
ciated with  the  justices  of  the  Circuit  Court  for  the  purpose 
of  hearing  and  determining  all  matters  of  wWch  the  pre- 
vious Court  of  Sessions  had  cognizance.  In  1819,  the 
Court  of  Sessions  was  again  restored,  consisting  of  a  chief 
justice  and  two  associate  justices  for  each  county.  There 
were  then  nine  counties  in  Maine,  in  which  twenty-seven 
judges  were  appointed,  only  five  of  whom  were  lawyers  ; 
viz.,  Joseph  Thomas  of  Kennebunk,  Peleg  Chandler  of  New 
Gloucester,  Ebenezer  Clapp  of  Bath,  Calvin  Selden  of  Nor- 
ridgcwock,  and  Samuel  M.  Pond  of  Bucksport :  Thomas, 
Clapp,  and  Selden  were  chief  justices. 

The  changes,  after  the  separation  of  Maine,  were  no  less 
frequent  in  the  organization  of  this  court  than  they  had 
been  in  Massachusetts.  Under  the  first  revision  of  the 
laws  in  1821,  it  was  provided  that  the  court  should  consist 
of  "  one  chief  justice,  and  not  exceeding  four  nor  less  than 
two  associate  justices,"  in  the  several  counties,  —  who  were 
to  receive  three  dollars  each  day  they  attended  court,  and  one 
dollar  for  every  ten  miles'  travel.  In  1825,  the  old  organ- 
ization was  restored,  of  a  chief  and  two  associate  justices. 
In  March,  1831,  a  radical  change  took  place  :  the  governor, 
with  advice  of  council,  was  authorized  to  appoint,  "  three 
suitable  persons  as  county  commissioners  in  each  of  the 
.several  counties  of  the*State,"  to  "  hold  their  offices  for  the 
tehn  of  four  years."  The  commissioners  were  invested  with 
the  powers  and  duties  of  the  Court  of  Sessions,  and  received 
the  same  compensation.     This  tribunal,  thus  constituted, 


PROBATE   COURT.  51 

we  are  happy  to  say,  has  retained  its  organization  and 
powers  until  the  present  time ;  except  that,  in  1842,  the 
office  was  made  elective,  and  some  changes  have  been  made 
in  the  compensation  of  the  commissioners. 


PROBATE     COURT. 

Under  the  colony  charter  of  Massachusetts,  of  1628,  the  first 
assistants,  who  were  appointed  by  the  king,  eighteen  in  num- 
ber, to  assist  the  governor  in  the  exercise  of  his  executive  pow- 
ers, were,  with  the  governor  and  deputy  governor,  invested 
with  authority  to  take  care  for  the  disposing  and  ordering  of 
the  general  lousiness  and  affairs  of  the  plantation,  and  the 
government  of  the  people  there.  The  assistants  were  subse- 
quently chosen  by  the  freemen  of  the  colony ;  and  they 
exercised  jurisdiction  in  matters  of  probate,  until  the  estab- 
lishment of  county  courts  in  1639,  when  it  was  transferred 
to  those  courts,  with-  the  right  of  appeal  to  the  Court  of 
Assistants.  By  an  act  of  the  General  Court,  in  1639,  it  was 
provided,  "  that  there  be  records  kept  of  all  wills,  admin- 
istrations, and  inventories  :  as  also  of  the  days  of  eveiy 
marriage,  birth  and  death  of  every  person  within  this  juris- 
diction." The  same  act  made  the  first  provision  in  New 
England,  if  not  in  America,  for  a  registry  of  deeds.  "  Item, 
to  record  all  men's  houses  and  lands,  being  ocrtified  under 
the  hands  of  the  men  of  every  town,  deputed  for  the 
ordering  of  tlicse  affairs."  In  1641,  this  provision  was 
made  more  definite. 

In  1652,  any  two  magistrates,  with  the  clerk  of  the  county 
court,  were  authorized  to  admit  a  will  to  probate  on  the  oath 
of  two  witnesses,  and  to  grant  administration  ;  and  the  clerk 
was  required  to  report  the  same  to  the  next  county  court, 
and  make  record  of  it.     By  act  of  1641,  it  was  ordered  that 


52  PROBATE   COURT. 

the  county  court  of  the  county,  where  the  intestate  had  his 
last  residence,  should  have  }30wer  to  assign  to  the  widow 
such  part  of  the  estate  of  her  husband  as  they  should  deem 
just  and  equal ;  and  in  the  division  among  the  childrcji, 
the  oldest  son  should  have  a  double  portion.  If  no  son,  the 
daughters  shared  equally.  By  another  act,  the  same  year, 
the  widow's  right  of  dower  was  established. 

In  short,  the  provisions  of  probate  jurisdiction  were  grad- 
ually brought,  under  the  colonial  government,  into  the  sys- 
tem, substantially,  in  which  it  now  exists.  The  sound, 
practical  common  sense  of  the  wise  founders  of  Massachu- 
setts went  directly  to  the  accomplishment  of  the  objects 
desired  ;  and  they  framed  their  enactments  and  their  insti- 
tutions so  as  best  to  carry  those  objects  into  effect. 

In  Maine,  the  General  Court  assumed  jurisdiction  on  all 
subjects  of  the  administration  of  estates,  and  continued  to 
exercise  it  until  the  Province  was  absorbed  into  that  of 
Massachusetts.  We  fortunately  have  a  record  remaining 
in  the  archives  of  York  County,  which,  proves  the  manner 
in  which  this  jurisdiction  was  exercised  from  the  first 
inception  of  the  government  in  Maine.  In  June,  1635,  the 
inventory  of  the  "  estate  of  Richard  Williams  servant  to 
Mr.  Matthew  Craddock  "  was  taken  by  Mr.  George  Frost, 
John  Wadlcigh,  and  Robert  Edwards,  which  is  confirmed 
l)y  the  deposition  of  John  Wadlcigh  in  IGGO.  In  the  conflict 
of  jurisdiction  which  harassed  the  Province  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  revolution  in  England,  1G42,  to  the 
acfiuisition  of  the  legal  title  by  Massachusetts,  Col.  Alex- 
ander Rigby,  a  staunch  repuljlican,  was  recognized  as  the 
lawful  proprietor  of  the*  Province  of  Ligonia,  extending 
from  (yai)e  Por)>oise  to  Cape  Elizabeth.  George  Clcevcs  was 
appointed  his  deputy,  under  the  style  of  Deputy  President, 
and  held  his  court,  under  the  name  of  "  The  General 
Assembly  of  the  Province  of  Ligonia,"  wliich  took  cogni- 


PROBATE  JURISDICTION.  53 

zance  of  all  matters  of  government,  as  well  as  private  rights. 
In  this  court,  in  1648,  was  an  elaborate  trial,  on  the  petition 
of  Rev.  Robert  Jordan,  administrator  of  the  estate  of  his 
father-in-law,  John  AVintcr,  against  the  executors  of  Mr. 
Robert  Trelawny,  the  proprietor  of  the  plantation  of  Cape 
Elizabeth,  on  which,  after  a  full  hearing,  a  specific  decree 
was  passed.  In  May,  of  the  same  year,  in  the  same  court, 
was  brought  forward  a  record  from  a  general  court  held 
under  Gorges'  authority,  in  1640,  granting  administration 
to  Payton  Cooke  on  the  estate  of  Richard  AVilliams,  above 
mentioned,  for  confirmation,  which  was  decreed  as  follows  : 
"  Wee  the  judges  for  the  Province  of  Ligonia  do,  by  our 
authority  ratify  and  confirme  unto  the  said  Payton  Cooke 
the  above  said  administration,  according  to  the  full  terms 
thereof.  Witness  our  hands,  under  our  provincial  seal  at 
the  day  and  year  above  written.  George  Cleeves,  Henry 
Jocelyn,  Robert  Jordan."  "  Recorded  by  Edward  Rish- 
worth,  11th  March,  1667—8." 

After  the  colonial  charter  of  Massachusetts  was  annulled, 
the  president,  Joseph  Dudley,  and  after  him,  Andros,  from 
1686  to  1689,  assumed  supreme  probate  jurisdiction,  intro- 
duced the  forms  of  the  Spiritual  Court  in  England,  and 
attended  personally  to  all  cases  of  administration,  where  the 
estate  exceeded  fifty  pounds  sterling.  He  introduced  order 
and  system  into  this  branch  of  the  law,  but  greatly  increased 
the  fees,  and  required  all  estates  to  be  settled  in  Boston. 

By  the  charter  of  1691,  probate  jurisdiction  was  con- 
f  ferrcd  on  the  governor  and  council ;  but  they,  by  virtue  of 
their  power  of  substitution,  appointed  Judges  of  Probate  in 
each  county. 

Governor  Pownal,  in  1760,  in  a  statement  to  the  council, 
represented  that  the  Courts  of  Probate  had  no  seal,  kept  no 
records,  had  Jio  rules,  and  did  not  observe  the  common 
formalities  of  a  judicial  court.     After  this  time,  Registers 


64  PROBATE   JURISDICTION. 

T^erc  appointed  and  seals  adopted.  Very  little  regularity 
existed  in  their  proceedings  previous  to  the  Revolution,  and 
no  material  change  was  made  in  the  organization  of  the 
courts. 

Before  1G92,  the  Recorder  of  the  Province  of  Maine,  who 
was  generally  the  clerk  of  the  County  Court,  recorded  wills 
and  administrations  with  the  records  of  that  court. 

The  constitution  of  Massachusetts,  adopted  in  1780,  made 
provision  that  "  the  Judges  of  Probate  of  Wills,  and  for 
granting  letters  of  administration,  shall  hold  their  courts  at 
such  place  or  places,  on  fixed  days,  as  the  convenience  of 
the  people  shall  require."  And  until  such  times  and  places 
were  appointed  by  the  legislature,  the  courts  were  to  be  held 
as  the  respective  judges  should  direct.  The  constitution 
also  provided  that,  "  All  causes  of  marriage,  divorce  and 
alimony,  and  all  appeals  from  Judges  of  Probate,  shall  be 
heard  and  determined  by  the  Governor  and  Council,  until 
the  legislature  shall,  by  law,  make  other  provision,"  —  thus 
retaining  the  practice  which  had  prevailed  under  the  charter. 
But  in  March,  1784,  the  legislature  passed  the  first  Probate 
Act,  which  established  a  Court  of  Probate  in  the  several 
counties,  to  be  "  held  by  some  able  and  learned  person  in 
each  county,  to  be  appointed  judge,  to  whom  was  assigned 
the  jurisdiction  of  which  Probate  Courts  have,  or  hereafter, 
by  the  laws  of  the  Commonwealth,  shall  have  cognizance." 
An  appeal  was  allowed  to  the  Supreme  Court.  The  judge 
and  register  by  the  constitution  were  to  be  appointed  by  the 
Governor  and  Council.  t 

Thus  was  established  tliis  important  court,  througli  which 
all  the  estates  in  the  community  pass,  in  substantially  the 
same  form  and  with  the  same  powers  as  they  exist  at  this 
day.  The  act  in  Maine,  of  March  20,  1821,  embraced,  in 
seventy  sections,  running  through  thirty-five  octavo  pages, 
the  provisions  and  improvements  in  detail,  which  the  expe- 


JUDGES   AND   REGISTERS   OF   PROBATE.  55 

riencc  of  more  than  a  third  of  a  century  had  engrafted  on 
the  original  stock  of  primitive  principles,  rendered  expe- 
dient, if  not  necessary,  by  the  advancing  population  and 
wealth  of  so  prosperous  and  enterprising  a  community  as 
that  of  Massaclmsctts  and  Maine.  The  principles  remained 
the  same  in  jurisdiction  and  powers,  but  expanded  to  meet 
the  larger  exigencies. 

Judges  of  Probate  had  the  same  tenure  of  office  by  the 
constitution  as  the  judges  of  the  common  law  courts,  but 
were  paid,  as  were  also  the  Registers,  by  fees  assessed  upon 
the  business  of  their  courts.  In  1826,  the  legislature  of 
Maine,  by  a  most  beneficent  provision,  abolished  all  fees  in 
those  courts,  and  appointed  fixed  salaries  for  the  judges  and 
registers,  varying  in  the  different  counties  with  the  amount 
of  their  business. 

In  1839,  the  judges  of  this  court  shared  the  fate  of  those 
in  the  other  courts,  by  an  abridgment  of  their  life  tenure 
to  that  of  seven  years  ;  and  this  was  followed  by  a  still 
more  democratic  rule,  by  which  botli  judges  and  registers, 
by  an  amendment  of  the  constitution  in  1855,  were  made 
elective  by  the  people  every  four  years. 

The  Judges  of  Probate  appointed  in  Maine  under  the 
charter  were : 
Joshua  Scottow,        ....        1687  — 1693 

Francis  Hook, 1693  — 1695 

Samuel  Wheelwright,  .  .  .  1695  — 1700 
Joseph  Hammond,  ....  1700  — 1710 
Ichabod  Plaistcd,  ....  1710  —  1715 
John  Wheelwright,  ....  1715  — 1745 
Jeremiah  Moulton,    ....         1745  — 1765 

John  Hill, 1765  —  1772 

Jonathan  Say  ward,    ....         1772  — 1775 

In  Cumberland : 
SamuelAValdo, 1760  —  1770 


56             CONDITION   OP   THE   BAR   UNDER   THE  CHARTER. 

Enoch  Freeman,        ....  1770  —  1782 

In  Lincoln : 

William  Gushing,          ....  1760  —  1772 

Jonathan  Bowman,  ....  1773  — 1804 

REGISTERS. 

Thomas  Scottow,       ....  1687  —  1693 

JolmWincol, 1693  —  1695 

Joseph  Hammond,    ....  1695  — 1700 

Charles  Frost, 1700  —  1733 

Rob't  Elliot  Gerrish,          .         .         .  1733  —  1744 

Simon  Frost, 1744  —  1776 

David  Sewall, 1766  —  1781 

In  Gumberland : 

J.  Stockbridge, 1760  —  1761 

Stephen  Longfellow,          .         .        .  1761  — 1775 

Samuel  Freeman,          ....  1775  — 1804 

In  Lincoln: 

William  Bryant, 1760  — 

Roland  Gushing,       ....  1773  —  1778 


CONDITION    AND    PROGRESS   OF   THE    BAR  —  ADMISSION    OF 
MEMBERS. 

During  the  exercise  of  royal  authority  in  Massachusetts 
and  Maine,  under  the  charter  of  1691,  the  administration 
of  justice  went  on  pretty  Tiniformly,  and  without  essential 
changes.  In  none  of  the  common  law  courts  were  any 
lawyers  on  the  bench,  except  in  the  Superior  Gourt ;  and  in 
that,  at  intervals,  but  four,viz.,Lyndc,  Dudley,  Trowbridge, 
and  William  Gushing.  Benjamin  Lyndc  studied  in  the 
Temple  at  Londoji,  and  was  judge  and  chief  justice,  from 


CONDITION  OP  THE  BAR  UNDER  THE  CHARTER.     57 

1712,  thirty-three  years.  Paul  Dudley  was  one  of  the  most 
cultivated  men  and  learned  lawyers  of  the  ante-Revolution 
period  ;  educated  to  the  bar  at  the  Temple,  he  was  appointed 
judge  in  171S,  and  chief  justice  in  1745,  as  successor  to 
Lynde,  and  held  that  oflice  till  his  death  in  1751.  Trow- 
bridge was  not  appointed  until  1767,  and  Gushing  in  1772. 
The  rules  of  practice  were  few  and  simple  ;  and,  although 
the  courts  were  authorized  to  establish  "  rules  for  the  more 
orderly  practise  and  proceedings,"  they  do  not  seem  to  have 
thought  it  necessary  to  go  largely  into  that  subject.  We 
have  no  evidence  that  the  bars  of  the  Province  established 
any  formal  regulations,  or  formed  any  associations  of  their 
members. 

The  first  act  relating  to  attornies  was  one  of  restraint, 
passed  in  1068,  to  render  them  ineligible  as  deputies  to  the 
General  Court.  The  next  was  passed  in  1701,  prescribing 
the  form  of  an  oath  to  be  taken  on  admission  to  the  bar, 
and  their  fees.  From  1720,  onward,  there  were  able,  culti- 
vated, and  richly  endowed  lawyers,  who  gradually  raised 
tlie  level  of  the  bar  to  a  high  standard,  and  improved  the 
forms  of  proceedings  and  the  practice  in  the  courts.  Dudley, 
the  Aucluuutys,  Reed,  Lynde,  Shirley,  Otis,  Jonathan 
Sewall,  Gridley,  Pratt,  Dana,  Farnham,  Trowbridge,  &c., 
were  among  those  who  adorned  the  bar  of  that  period,  and 
would  have  done  credit  to  any  bar  of  recent  times.  But 
they  were  more  addicted  to  routine,  and  restrained  by  the 
narrow  limits  of  the  institutions  under  which  their  destinies 
were  cast.  Tliey  could  not  expand  their  wings  freely  for  a 
flight  among  the  stars :  a  colonial  and  dependent  govern- 
ment was  not  the  sphere  for  high  aspirations  or  renowned 
achievement. 

When  free  institutions  were  established  in  the  state,  and 
all  stations  were  open  to  all  men,  the  cllects  of  an  independ- 
ent and  self-relying  condition  began  to  be  manifest,  in  the 
5 


58  BAR  REGULATIONS. 

general  advance  of  society,  and  progress  in  all  our  institu- 
tions, which  reached  to  the  staid,  sedate,  and  conservative 
precincts  of  the  courts  of  law.  All  the  judges  of  the 
highest  court  from  tliat  time,  were  educated  and  able  law- 
yers, who  gradually  introduced  improvements  in  the  forms 
of  proceedings  and  the  practice  of  the  courts.  Clear  and 
concise  rules  of  practice  were  introduced  in  1806,  which 
were  published  in  the  second  volume  of  the  reports  ;  these, 
among  other  things,  had  reference  to  maintaining  the  charac- 
ter and  purity  of  persons  who  desired  to  enter  into  practice. 

Examiners  were  appointed  in  each  county,  consisting  of 
the  best  lawyers,  who  were  carefully  to  examine  candidates 
for  admission,  both  as  attornies  to  the  Common  Pleas,  and 
as  counsellors  to  the  Supreme  Court.  These  regulations 
were  an  expansion  of  an  act  passed  in  1785,  providing  for 
the  admission  of  attornies,  similar  to  the  Province  act. 
The  bars  of  the  several  counties  also  adopted  stringent  rules 
to  purge  themselves,  and  to  keep  their  associations  free  from 
unworthy  members,  and  to  elevate  the  character  and  posi- 
tion of  the  profession.  The  acts  and  regulations  concerning 
attornies  were  adopted  in  ]\Iaine  on  the  separation,  and 
were  enforced,  keeping  up  the  standard  of  the  profession 
and  its  professors.  The  requisitions  for  admission  were, — 
good  moral  character,  three  years'  study  with  a  counsellor 
at  law,  if  having  received  a  degree  from  college  ;  or,  without 
that,  the  candidate  was  to  have  faithfully  devoted  seven 
years,  at  least,  to  the  acquisition  of  scientific  and  legal 
attainments,  of  which  three  years  should  have  been  spent  in 
professional  studies  with  some  counsellor  at  law.  These 
requirements  were  persisted  in  until  1843,  when  the  legisla- 
ture of  Maine,  under  some  strange  influence,  swept  all 
these  salutary  regulations  away,  and,  by  a  single  sentence, 
removed  those  just  restraints  whicli  enabled  the  bar  to 
preserve  a  respectable  standard  of  professional  merit,  and 


BAR   REGULATIONS.  69 

to  guard  itself,  as  well  as  society,  from  the  bad  effects  of 
ignorant  and  unqualified  practitioners.  The  clause  is  as 
follows :  "  Any  citizen  of  this  State  of  good  moral  charac- 
ter, on  application  to  the  Supreme'  Court,  shall  be  admitted 
to  practice  as  an  attorney  in  the  judicial  courts  of  this 
State."  Thus  it  will  be  perceived,  that  no  discretion  was 
left  to  the  court  to  judge  of  merit  or  qualification.  Any 
person  who  produced  a  certificate  of  fair  character,  might 
enter  the  practice,  whether  he  had  any  knowledge  of  law, 
or  skill  in  practice,  or  not.  The  effect  of  this  law  was, 
undoubtedly,  to  lower  the  standard  of  merit  in  the  legal 
profession,  and  to  break  up  the  bar  associations,  which  had 
for  many  years  been  a  source  of  legal  improvement  and 
pleasant  social  intercourse.  These  evils  became  apparent 
in  a  few  years,  and  made  so  difep  an  impression  on  the  public 
mind,  that  the  legislature,  in  1859,  passed  an  act,  requiring 
all  candidates  for  admission  to  the  bar  to  be  examined  by  a 
committee,  annually  appointed  in  each  county  by  the  Su- 
preme Court,  of  "  three  or  more  persons  learned  in  the  law, 
whose  duty  it  shall  be  to  examine  thoroughly  touching  his 
qualifications  as  a  lawyer,  any  applicant  to  be  admitted  to 
practice  ;  "  and  "  no  person  shall  be  admitted  thus  to  prac- 
tice, until  he  submits  to  such  examination,  and  produces  to 
the  court  a  certificate  of  such  examination,"  pays  the  dues, 
and  takes  tlic  oath,  which  is  the  one  originally  adoj)ted,  and 
before  mentioned. 

But  this  return  to  more  stringent  requirements  for  admis- 
sion to  practice,  did  not  restore  the  social  and  i)rofitable 
reunions  of  the  bar,  in  which  the  judges  and  the  lawyers 
were  wont  to  lay  aside  the  ermine  and  the  rolte,  and  give 
free  play  to  their  genial  and  cultivated  minds.  The  wit  and 
humor  which  flashed  on  these  occasions,  relieved  the  prosaic 
dullness  of  official  station,  and  the  tediousness  of  a  routine 
life. 


60  COUNTY   OFFICERS  IN   1800. 


COUNTY     OFFICERS     IN     1800. 
YORK      COUNTY. 

Judges  of  the  Common  Pleas  : 

Nathaniel  Wells  of  Wells, 
Edward  Cutts  of  Kittery, 
Jonas  Clark  of  Wells, 
Simon  Frye  of  Fryeburg. 

Daniel  Sewall,  Clerk. 
*  Edward  Cutts,  Judge  of  Probate. 

Daniel  Sewall,  Register  of  Probate. 
William  Frost  of  York,  Register  of  Deeds. 
Ichabod  Goodwin  of  Berwick,  Sheriff. 

CUMBERLAND      COUNTY. 

Judges  of  the  Common  Pleas : 

John  Lewis  of  North  Yarmouth, 
William  Gorham  of  Gorham, 
Stephen  Longfellow  of  Gorham, 
Robert  Southgate  of  Scarboro'. 

Samuel  Freeman  of  Portland,  Clerk. 
William  Gorham,  Judge  of  Probate. 
Samuel  Freeman,  Register  of  Probate. 
Isaac  Ilsley,  Register  of  Deeds. 
John  Waite  of  Portland,  Sheriff. 

LINCOLN      COUNTY. 

Judges  of  tlie  Common  Pleas : 

Thomas  Rice  of  Wiscasset. 
Nathaniel  Thwing  of  Woolwich. 


COUNTY  OFFICERS  IN   1800.  61 

Jonathan  Bowman  of  Dresden. 
Orchard  Cook  of  Pownalboro'. 

Jonatlian  Bowman,  Jr.,  of  Pownalboro',  Clerk. ^ 
Jonathan  Bowman,  Judge  of  Probate. 
Jonathan  Bowman,  Jr.,  Register  of  Probate. 
Thomas  Rice,  Register  of  Deeds. 
Edmund  Bridge  of  Dresden,  Sheriff. 

KENNEBEC      COUNTY. 

Judges  of  the  Common  Pleas  : 

Joseph  North  of  Augusta, 
Daniel  Cony  of  Augusta, 
Nathaniel  Dummer  of  Hallowell, 
Chandler  Robbins  of  Hallowell. 

John  Davis,  Clerk. 
James  Bridge,  Judge  of  Probate. 
Thomas  Bowman,  Register  of  Probate. 
Henry  Sewall,  Register  of  Deeds. 
Arthur  Lithgow  of  Winslow,  Sheriff. 

UANCOCK     COUNTY. 

Judges  of  the  Common  Pleas : 

Paul  Dudley  Sargent  of  Sullivan, 
Oliver  Parker  of  Castine, 
William  Vinal  of  Vinalhaven. 

Warren  Hall,  Clerk. 

Paul  Dudley  Sargent,  Judge  of  Probate. 

Jonathan  Eddy  of  Eddington,  Register  of  Probate. 


•  Also  Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  for  the  counties  of  Lincoln,  Hancock, 
and  Washington. 


62  COUNTY   OFFICERS   IN   1800. 

Joseph  Perkins,  Register  of  Deeds. 
Thomas  Phillips  of  Castiiie,  Sheriff. 

WASHINGTON      COUNTY. 

Judges  of  the  Common  Pleas : 

Stephen  Jones  of  Machias, 
Alexander  Campbell  of  Steuben, 
John  Crane  of  Columbia. 

Ralph  Hart  Bowles,  Clerk. 
Stephen  Jones,  Judge  of  Probate. 
Stephen  Jones,  Jr.,  Register  of  Probate. 
George  Stillman,  Register  of  Deeds. 
John  Cooper  of  Machias,  Sheriff. 


CHAPTER    V. 


REPORTS      AND      REPORTERS 


Among  the  improvements  which  were  introduced  within 
the  first  quarter  century  of  the  new  government,  was  the 
appointment  of  a  reporter  of  the  decisions  of  the  Su- 
preme Court.  This  judicious  measure,  which  has  proved 
so  valuable  to  the  profession  and  to  the  people,  was  cau- 
tiously adopted  in  1804,  the  act  limiting  the  office  to  three 
years.  In  1806,  it  was  continued  to  1811,  when  it  was 
again  continued  to  1815  ;  after  which  it  was  made  a  perma- 
nent institution,  or  during  the  pleasure  of  the  legislature, 
the  experiment  having  been  found  entirely  beneficial  and 
successful.  Although  reporting  had  been  practiced  many 
years  in  England,  it  was  done,  for  the  most  part,  by  individ- 
uals on  their  own  responsibility.  East  was  the  reporter  in 
the  King's  Bench,  when  the  law  was  passed  in  Massachusetts 
establishing  the  office  of  reporter.  He  was  of  the  firm  of 
Durnford  <fe  East,  who  commenced  their  reports  in  1786, 
and  modestly  styled  them,  "  Notes  of  Cases  adjudged  in 
the  Court  of  King's  Bench."  Lord  Ellenborough  was  then 
chief  justice.  The  reports  of  Durnford  &  East  were  the 
first  whicli  were  published  regularly,  "  within  a  short  time 
after  each   term,"  and   were,  therefore,  called  the  Term 


64  REPORTS   AND    REPORTERS. 

Reports  ;  and  the  success  which  attended  them  so  increased 
the  number  of  such  publications,  as  that  the  profession  was 
overwhelmed  with  them.  The  various  reports  during 
the  reign  of  George  III.  amount  to  upwards  of  sixty  ; 
and  the  whole  number  of  volumes  published  in  England 
down  to  1825,  was  five  hundred. 

The  first  reports  published  m  England  were  the  Year- 
Books,  which  contain  reports  of  cases  in  a  tolerably 
regular  series,  from  the  beginning  of  the  reign  of  Edward 
II.,  1307,  to  sometime  into  the  reign  of  Henry  VIII., 
about  the  year  1520.  The  study  of  the  Year-Books  was 
part  of  the  discipline  of  law  students,  until  after  the 
middle  of  the  last  century.  Lord  Mansfield  said,  "  that 
when  he  was  young,  few  persons  would  confess  that  they 
had  not  read  a  considerable  part,  at  least,  of  the  Year- 
Books  ;  but  at  "the  time  at  which  he  was  speaking,  few 
would  pretend  to  more  than  an  occasional  recourse  to  them, 
in  very  particular  cases."  After  the  suspension  of  the  pub- 
lication of  these  books,  no  reports  were  published  for  a 
considerable  period.  "  It  was  then  thought  by  the  sages  of 
the  law,"  says  Lord  Coke,  "  that  the  Reports  of  the  Law 
were  sufficient."  The  next  collection,  after  the  Year-Books, 
was  that  of  Flowden,  compiled  from  his  private  notes,  and 
published  in  the  age  of  Elizabeth.  They  only  contained 
points  of  law  determined  upon  demurrers  or  special  argu- 
ments ;  and  "  have  always  been  deservedly  esteemed  of  the 
highest  authority."  In  the  year  1585,  appeared  the  Reports 
of  Sir  James  Dyer,  from  a  collection  of  notes  puljlished 
after  his  death,  which  were  held  in  high  estimation,  from 
the  eminent  character  of  the  author.  In  the  latter  part  of 
the  reign  of  Elizabeth,  1600,  Lord  Coke  commenced  the 
publication  of  his  reports,  which,  from  their  high  value, 
were  called  "  The  Reports."  He  says,  in  his  preface  to  the 
first  part,  "  I  have,  since  the  22d  year  of  her  majesty's 


REPORTS  AND   REPORTERS.  65 

reign,  which  is  now  twenty  years  complete,  observed  the 
true  reasons,  as  near  as  I  could,  of  such  matters  in  law, 
wherein  I  was  counsel,  and  acquainted  with  the  state  of  the 
case,  as  have  been  adjudged  upon  mature  deliberation." 
Tlie  first  eleven  parts  of  these  reports  appeared  in  the  life- 
time of  their  author,  from  1600  to  1615,  the  twelfth  and 
thirteenth  at  subsequent  periods.  Of  their  great  value,  we 
cannot  better  speak  than  in  the  language  of  Lord  Bacon,  in 
his  Proposal  for  amending  the  laws  of  England  :  "  Of  this  I 
say  no  more,  but  that,  to  give  every  man  his  due,  had  it  not 
been  for  Sir  Edward  Coke's  reports,  —  which  though  they 
may  have  errors  and  some  peremptory  and  extra-judicial 
resolutions  more  than  warranted,  yet  they  contain  infinite 
good  decisions  and  ruling  over  of  cases,  —  the  law  by  this 
time  had  been  a  ship  almost  without  ballast ;  for  that  the 
cases  of  modern  experience  are  pled  from  those  that  are 
adjudged  and  ruled  in  former  time."  Next  after  Coke, 
came  Sir  Henry  Hobart,  his  successor  also  on  the  bench  of 
the  Common  Fleas.  He  left,  on  his  death,  a  collection  of 
valuable  MSS.  notes  of  cases  determined  in  that  court. 
These  were  afterwards  edited  and  published  by  Sir  Heneage 
Finch,  twenty-two  years  after  Coke's,  and  were  considered 
by  the  profession,  "  accurate  and  lucid  expositions  of  the 
'law  which  they  contain."  During  the  twelve  years  of  the 
Commonwealth,  there  were  twenty-one  volumes  of  reports 
published  by  judges,  sergeants  at  law,  and  other  lawyers, — 
among  them,  Popham,  Coke,  Noy,  and  Bulstrode.  This 
was  a  period  when  much  freedom  was  given  to  the  press  ; 
so  much  so,  that  "  its  fertility  was  accounted  a  faul|;,"  even 
at  that  time,  and  led,  on  the  Restoration,  to  the  passage  of 
a  statute,  passed  1661,  prohibiting  all  law  books  to  be 
printed,  without  a  license  from  the  Chancellor  or  one  of  the 
chid"  justices.  Notwithstanding  this  restriction,  there  were 
sixteen   volumes   published   in   the   twenty-three  years  of 


OG  REPORTS   AND   REPORTERS. 

Charles  11. ,  from  16(30  to  1083,  which  included  Yelverton, 
Crokc,  Eliz.,  Moore,  1st  and  2d  Anderson,  1st  Rolle,  and 
1st  Modern.  In  the  four  years  of  James  II.,  there  were 
seven  volumes  published,  including  Saunders,  and  three  of 
Kcblc.  From  that  time  to  1711,  thirteen  volumes  were 
published,  "  most  of  which,"  as  the  writer  of  the  preface  to 
v.  Modern  says,  "  to  express  myself  in  my  Lord  Coke's 
words,  set  open  the  windows  of  the  law  to  let  in  the  glad- 
some light."  Among  these  were  two,  three,  four,  and  live 
Modern,  Lutwich,  and  Shower. 

In  the  intermediate  period,  between  1711  and  1765,  when 
the  first  volume  of  Burrow's  reports  was  published,  appeared 
the  seven  remaining  volumes  of  Modern  Reports,  Raymond, 
and  Sir  John  Strange  ;  the  last  two,  after  the  death  of  their 
authors,  and  all  from  notes  of  cases  decided  long  previous. 
The  desire  for  recent  decisions  was  strongly  expressed  by 
the  profession,  and  induced  Sir  James  Burrow  to  undertake 
the  gratification  of  this  wish.  He  says,  "  Late  cases  are 
most  sought  after.  I  was  subject  to  continued  interruption, 
and  even  persecution,  by  incessant  application  for  searches 
into  my  notes,  for  transcript  of  them.  *  *  This  incon- 
venience grew  from  bad  to  worse,  till  it  became  quite  insup- 
portable ;  "  and  he  puljlished,  in  1765,  his  first  volume 
containing  cases  from  1756  to  1758,  inclusive,  commencing  * 
with  the  first  appearance  of  Lord  Mansfield  on  the  bench. 
His  preface  to  the  first  volume  is  dated  November,  1765,  in 
which  he  makes  this  remarkable  statement :  "  Since  the 
11th  day  of  November,  1756,  to  this  day,  there  never  has 
appeared  in  court  the  least  dificrence  of  opinion  ;  every 
rule,  order,  certificate  and  judgment  have  been  unanimous. 
There  never  was  more  business.  The  reasonings  and  opin- 
ions of  the  judges  never  gave  more  satisfaction.  All  the 
seats  were  never  so  filled  together."  The  judges  were, — 
Lord  Mansfield,  Sir  Thomas  Deiiison,  Sir  Michael  Foster, 


AMERICAN   REPORTS.  67 

and  Sir  John  Eardly  Wilmot.  In  regard  to  this  remark- 
able statement,  and  fact,  as  it  no  doubt  was,  there  was  a 
different  explanation  given.  Robert  Morris,  in  a  letter  to 
Sir  Richard  Ashton,  a  judge  in  the  King's  Bench,  says :  "  It 
is  not  uncommon  abilities,  integrity,  and  temper,  as  Mr.  Bur- 
row would  persuade  us,  but  sheer  fear  of  Lord  Mansfield, 
the  Scottish  chief,  which  produces  this  miracle  in  the 
moral  and  intellectual  world."  The  five  volumes  of  Bur- 
row came  down  to  1772.  Cowper  extends  from  1774  to 
1778,  and  is  followed  by  Douglass  from  1779  to  1781.  Durn- 
ford  &  East  commenced  in  1786  their  regular  series,  which 
was  continued  by  East  to  1812.  In  1792,  Durnford  pub- 
lished a  volume  from  the  MSS.  of  Lord  Chief  Justice 
Willes,  of  cases  decided  during  his  time,  from  1737  to  1758, 
in  one  volume.  But  the  volumes  of  reports  now  thicken 
so  fast  in  England,  that  we  do  not  propose  to  follow  them 
any  farther  ;  and  content  ourselves  with  a  brief  survey  of  the 
early  American  reports. 

The  first  volume  of  reports  of  the  decisions  of  any 
court  in  the  United  States,  was  one  published  by  Eph- 
raira  Kirby,  in  1789,  of  cases  adjudged  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Connecticut,  from  1785  to  1788,  in  one  vol- 
ume. Kirby  was  afterwards  appointed  the  first  judge  of 
the  United  States  District  Court  at  New  Orleans,  and  died 
at  Fort  Stoddard  in  1804.  The  next  reports  which  appeared 
were  those  of  Dallas,  of  cases  in  the  courts  of  the  United 
States  and  Pennsylvania,  before  and  since  the  Revolution, 
four  volumes,  octavo :  the  first  volume  was  published  in 
1790  :  with  the  exception  of  Kirby,  these  are  the  oldest 
reports  in  the  United  States.  Alexander  J.  Dallas  was 
born  in  Jamaica,  1759,  came  to  Philadelphia  in  1783,  and 
within  ten  days  took  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United 
States.     He  became  an  eminent  lawyer,  author,  and  politi- 


68  AMERICAN    llEPOETS. 

ciaii,  was  several  yoars  Secretary  of  State  for  Pennsylvania, 
and  afterwards  Secretary  of  tlie  Treasury  of  the  United 
States,  in  the  administration  of  Mr.  Madison,  and  for  a 
time,  in  1815,  discharged  the  additional  duties  of  Secretary 
of  "War.  lie  died  in  January,  1817.  He  was  father  of 
George  M.  Dallas,  late  Minister  to  England.  In  1797, 
appeared  Judge  Martin's  North  Carolina  Reports,  and  the 
next  year,  those  of  Judge  Heywood,  of  the  same  State, 
embracing  cases  from  1789.  The  same  year  were  published 
Judge  Jesse  Root's  Connecticut  Reports,  of  cases  in  the 
Supreme  Court,  from  1789  to  1798,  in  two  volumes  —  the 
second  published  in  1802  ;  and  the  first  volume  of  Buslirod 
Washington's  Reports,  of  cases  in  the  Court  of  Appeals  in 
Virginia.  In  1799,  appeared  the  first  volume  of  Heywood's 
Tennessee  Reports.  In  1800,  Alexander  Addison,  of  Pitts- 
burg, published  a  volume  containing  cases  decided  in  the 
county  courts  and  the  High  Court  of  Errors  and  Appeals 
in  Pennsylvania.  These,  we  believe,  were  all  the  reports 
published  in  this  country  during  the  last  century,  except 
some  of  scattered  and  prominent  cases,  as  Hogan's  State 
Trials,  of  Hopkinson  and  Nicholson,  in  1794,  which  we  do 
not  embrace  in  our  catalogue. 

With  the  present  century  commenced  a  more  rapid  career 
of  publications  in  this  as  well  as  other  departments  of  law. 
In  1801,  appeared  the  first  volume  of  Call's  Reports,  of 
cases  in  the  Court  of  Appeals  in  Virginia,  from  1797  to 

1802,  in  three  volumes  ;  and  Wallace's  Circuit  Court  Re- 
ports in  the  Third  Circuit  United  States  Court.  In  1802, 
was  published  Taylor's  North  Carolina  Reports ;  and,  in 

1803,  the  Reports  of  James  Hughes,  of  cases  in  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Kentucky,  from  1785  to  1801,  in  one  volume, 
quarto.  In  1804,  appeared  Caines's  Cases  in  Error,  one  vol- 
ume, and  the  first  volume  of  Judge  Cranch's  valuable  series 


I 


AMERICAN   REPORTS.  69 

ill  nine  volumes,  of  cases  adjudged  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  the  United  States,  from  1801  to  1815  ;  and  iJay's  South 
Carolina  Reports,  of  cases  from  1783  to  1804,  in  two  vol- 
umes. In  1805,  George  Caines  commenced  the  publication 
of  the  New  York  Term  Reports,  by  appointment  of  the  State, 
which  have  been  continued  through  numerous  volumes,  by 
himself,  Johnson,  Cowen,  Wendell,  and  others,  to  the  pres- 
ent time.  The  same  year  witnessed  the  commencement  of 
that  remarkable  and  unljroken  series  of  Reports  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts,  contained  in  seventy-seven 
volumes,  to  1862.  The  first  volume  was  published  by  Eph- 
raim  Williams,  a  distinguished  lawyer  of  Berkshire  County, 
wlio  was  appointed  reporter  in  1803,  and  in  October  of  the 
following  year,  published  his  volume.  He  resigned  the 
office,  as  too  laborious,  after  the  publication  of  the  first  vol- 
ume ;  and  was  succeeded  by  Dudley  Atkins  Tyng,  who 
published  sixteen  volumes,  to  1822,  including  the  last  year 
of  Chief  Justice  Dana,  the  whole  judicial  life  of  Chief  Jus- 
tice Parsons,  the  year  of  Chief  Justice  Sewall,  and  eight 
years  of  Chief  Justice  Parker.  His  successors  have  been 
Octavius  Pickering,  who  published  twenty-four  volumes  ; 
Judge  Metcalf,  twelve  volumes  ;  Cushing,  twelve  volumes  ; 
Gray,  ten  volumes  ;  and  Allen,  the  present  reporter,  two 
volumes.  In  1805,  was  also  published  Cameron  &  Nor- 
wood's North  Carolina  Reports,  in  one  volume,  octavo  ;  and 
Kentucky  Reports,  one  volume  ;  and  Bay's  South  Carolina 
Reports,  since  the  Revolution ;  second  edition  in  New  York, 
1801)  — 1811,  in  two  volumes.  In  1800,  Judge  Thomas 
Day  commenced  the  publication  of  his  valuable  reports  of 
cases  decided  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Connecticut.  On 
the  publication  of  the  sixteenth  volume,  the  Law  Reporter 
of  February,  1817,  observes  ;  "  Mr.  Day  is  unquestionably 
the  oldest  living  reporter.  As  early  as  180G,  the  first  vol- 
ume of  '  Day's  Reports '  were  issued,  and  from  that  time 


70  AMERICAN   REPORT^. 

to  the  present,  for  forty  years  and  upwards,  lie  has  continued 
in  the  service  of  the  public,  recording  and  preserving  the 
opinions  of  an  able  court.  His  twenty-one  volumes  of 
Reports  comprise  a  body  of  decisions  on  questions  of  Com- 
mon Law,  of  equity,  and  of  ecclesiastical  and  maritime  law, 
from  which  may  be  drawn  a  more  complete  system  of  juris- 
prudence in  all  its  departments,  probably,  than  from  the 
reports  of  the  decisions  of  any  other  single  court  in  this 
country,  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  alone 
excepted." 

In  1807,  appeared  Pennington's  New  Jersey  Reports  ;  in 
1809,  Harris's  Maryland ;  which  were  the  first  pub- 
lished in  those  States.  Harris  was  associated  with  Mc- 
Henry,  in  the  publication  of  this  work  in  four  volumes, 
embracing  cases  from  1G58  to  1799,  in  the  Provincial, 
General,  and  Appeals  Courts  of  JNIaryland.  Judge  Martin 
commenced  the  same  year,  the  publication  of  his  Louisiana 
Reports,  which  extended  to  twenty  volumes,  from  1809  to 
1830  ;  and  Royal  Tyler  his  Vermont  Reports,  from  1800  to 
1803,  in  two  volumes  ;  which  were  the  first  published  in 
those  States,  and  by  persons  who  were,  for  a  time,  chief 
justices  of  their  highest  courts.  In  1810,  appeared  Bee's 
Admiralty  Reports,  of  cases  in  the  District  of  South  Caro- 
lina. 

We  have  now  given  a  brief  resvme  of  the  earliest  reports 
published  in  most  of  the  States  to  1810  :  it  would  require 
too  much  space  and  time  to  follow  their  successors  through 
subsequent  years.  I  will,  therefore,  only  mention  the  first 
reporters  who  engaged  in  this  duty  in  the  other  States,  in 
the  order  of  their  publication.  In  Tennessee  were,  Cooke, 
one  volume,  1811  to  1814 ;  Heywood  continued  to  1818, 
four  volumes,  1810  to  1818;  Overton,  1791  to  1817,  two 
volumes.  Blackford's  Indiana  Reports,  1817.  ]3ruse's  Illi- 
nois, 1819.     Hammond's  Ohio,  series  from  1813.     Adams's 


MAINE   REPORTS.  71 

New  Hampshire,  from  181Q  to  1819,  published  in  1819,  and 
continued  under  the  name  of  New  Hampshire  Reports. 
Alabama,  Minor's  Reports,  1820,  one  volume.  Georgia, 
Charlton,  one  volume,  from  1805  to  1810,  published  in 
1824. 

To  these  should  be  added,  the  valuable  reports  of  cases 
decided  in  the  First  Circuit  of  the  United  States  Court, 
during  the  period  of  thirty-three  years  that  Judge  Story 
presided,  with  eminent  ability,  in  that  tribunal.  These 
were  commenced  by  John  Gallison,  in  1815,  who  published 
two  volumes,  embracing  decisions  from  1812.  They  were 
continued,  after  the  lamented  death  of  Mr.  Gallison,  by 
William  P.  Mason,  in  five  volumes  ;  Charles  Sumner,  in 
three  volumes  ;  and  William  W.  Story,  son  of  the  judge,  in 
three  volumes,  —  making  a  series  of  fifteen  volumes.  Wood- 
bury <fe  Minot  reported  the  decisions  of  Justice  Woodbury, 
in  three  volumes,  after  the  death  of  Judge  Story,  in  1845. 
Two  volumes  have  also  been  published  of  the  decisions  of 
Judge  Ware,  in  the  Admiralty  Court  of  JMaine,  from  1S22 
to  1849,  under  the  revision  of  that  able  judge  ;  which  are 
standard  authority  on  the  numerous  questions  therein 
determined.  Tlie  second  volume  was  edited  by  Edward  H. 
Davies. 

We  are  now  brought  to  a  consideration  of  the  Maine 
Reports,  embracing  the  decisions  in  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Maine,  from  1820  to  1860,  in  forty-six  volumes.  The  office 
of  reporter  was  established  in  1820 :  the  governor  was 
required,  as  soon  as  practicable  after  the  passage  of  the  law, 
to  appoint  "  a  suitable  person,  learned  in  the  law,  to  be  a 
Reporter  of  the  decisions  of  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court," 
who  was  to  receive  a  salary  of  six  hundred  dollars  a  year, 
and  the  profits  arising  from  the  publication  of  the  reports. 
It  was  a  fortunate  circumstance,  for  the  honor  of  the  new 


72  MAINE   REPORTS. 

State  and  the  character  of  the  judiciary,  that  so  accurate  a 
lawyer,  and  so  ingenious  a  scholar,  as  Simon  Greenleaf,  was 
appointed  to  that  office.  The  first  volume  of  his  reports 
was  published  in  1822,  and  was  followed  by  eight  additional 
volumes,  extending  to  1832,  inclusive.  The  ninth  volume 
contains  a  digest  of  the  nine  volumes,  with  a  table  of  cases 
alphabetically  arranged.  During  the  whole  period  of  these 
reports,  the  learned  Chief  Justice  Mellen  presided  in  the 
court,  assisted  during  the  whole  period  by  Justice  Weston, 
who  succeeded  Judge  Mellen  in  the  chief  justiceship  ;  and 
Judge  Preble,  who  being  appointed  Minister  to  Holland,  in 
1828,  was  succeeded  by  Judge  Parris.  Mr.  Greenleaf, 
having  been  appointed  professor  in  the  Law  School  at  Cam- 
bridge, in  1833,  left  Portland  in  that  year  for  his  new  duties, 
and  was  succeeded  by  John  Fairfield,  afterwards  Member 
of  Congress,  Governor  of  the  State,  and  Senator  in  Congress, 
who  published  three  volumes  ;  and  was  succeeded  by  John 
Shepley,  who  published  seventeen  volumes,  from  1835  to 
1849.  His  successors  have  been  John  Appleton,  now  judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court,  Asa  Redington,  late  judge  of  the 
Common  Pleas,  Solomon  Heath,  John  M.  Adams,  Timothy 
Ludden,  and  the  present  reporter,  Wales  Hubbard.  The 
merit  of  these  reports  is  various,  depending  both  on  the 
qualifications  and  legal  ability  of  the  court,  and  the  manner 
in  which  the  points  of  the  case,  the  arguments,  and  the 
rulings  are  presented.  It  cannot  but  be  considered  an  unfor- 
tunate circumstance,  that  the  fluctuations  of  politics  should 
be  allowed  to  enter  into  the  consideration  of  an  appoint- 
ment, which,  next  to  that  of  the  judge  on  the  bench,  is  of 
eminent  importance  to  the  pure  and  intelligent  administra- 
tion of  justice. 

The  multiplication  of  the  volumes  of  reports  has  become 
excessively  burdensome.     Mr.   Hoffman,  in  liis  Course  of 


REPORTS   AND   REPORTERS.  73 

Legal  Study,  second  edition,  published  in  1836,  furnishes  a 
table  of  reports  of  the  several  States  and  the  United  States, 
by  which  it  appears,  up  to  that  time,  1836,  the  whole  num- 
ber of  volumes  was  foiir  hundred  and  seventy-three,  —  this 
number  included  about  twenty  volumes  of  reports  of  separ- 
ate trials,  such  as  Burr's  two  volumes,  the  impeachment  of 
Judge  Chase,  &c.,  leaving  four  hundred  and  fifty-two  vol- 
umes of  reports  in  the  usual  course  of  proceedings.  Since 
that  time,  a  period  of  twenty-six  years,  we  may  safely  esti- 
mate tliat  the  number  of  volumes  has  been  more  than 
doubled  ;  so  that  now  they  will  probably  come  up  to  one 
thousand  volumes  of  reports  published  in  this  country  alone, 
of  the  decisions  of  our  own  courts,  besides  the  numerous 
reprints  of  foreign  reports.  To  lawyers  who  are  desirous 
of  keeping  informed  of  the  progress  of  the  law,  and  the 
course  of  practice,  this  accumulation  is  really  oppressive. 
The  evil,  we  think,  is  much  increased  by  the  diffusive 
and  vicious  manner  of  reporting,  the  verbose  opinions 
which  are  given  in  many  cases,  and  the  publication  of 
cases  which  present  no  new  or  important  principles  of  law. 
'I'liis  ought  to  1)0  reformed  altogether. 

AVe  may  conclude  this  branch  of  our  suliject  by  adopting 
the  language  of  the  writer  of  the  preface  to  the  fifth  volume 
of  Modern  Reports,  published  in  1711,  who  says  :  "  Thus  I 
liave  given  an  historical  account  of  our  reports,  which  a 
country  lawyer,  who  was  afterwards  advanced  to  a  scat  of 
justice,  told  the  bar  were  too  voluminous  ;  for  when  lie  was 
a  student,  he  could  carry  a  complete  library  of  books  in  a 
wheelbarrow  ;  but  that  they  were  so  wonderfully  increased, 
in  a  few  years,  they  could  not  then  be  drawn  in  a  wagon." 

The  proceedings  of  court,  after  the  statute  of  Edward  III., 
were  carried  on  in  English,  reported  in  French,  and  recorded 
in  Latin.  It  continued  customary  to  report  in  French  until 
the  time  of  the  Commonwealth.     In  1649,  was  passed  "  An 


74  JUDGES   AND   ATTORNEY   GENERALS. 

Act  for  turninc:  tlie  Books  of  the  Law  and  all  processes  and 
proceedings  in  Courts  of  Justice  into  English."  The  Latin 
continued  to  be  the  language  of  the  records  until  the  reign 
of  George  II. 


JUDGES  OP  THE  SUPREME  COURT  —  ATTORNEY  GENERALS. 

The  succession  of  chief  justices  in  the  Supreme  Court 
of  Maine  has  been  as  follows  : 

Prentiss  Mellen,  LL.  D.,    .  .         .        1820  —  1834 

Nathan  Weston,  LL.  D.,  .         .         .     1834  —  1841 

Ezekiel  Whitman,  LL.  D.,  .        .        1841  —  1848 

Ether  Shepley,  LL.  D.,  .         .        .     1848  —  1855 

John  S.  Tenney,LL.  D.,  .  .        .         1855  — 

In  1839,  the  constitution  of  Maine  was  altered  so  as  to 
make  the  term  of  the  judicial  office  seven  years,  instead  of 
•'  during  good  behavior,  but  not  beyond  70  years."  Under 
the  original  provision,  Cliief  Justice  Mellen  retired  from  the 
office  at  the  age  of  seventy,  while  in  the  full  ripeness  of  his 
powers.  The  other  chiefs  fell  under  the  seven  years'  rule, 
although  Judge  Whitman  resigned  before  the  completion  of 
his  term,  at  the  age  of  seventy-two  and  one-half  years. 

The  associate  judges  in  this  court  have  been  as  follows: 

Nathan  Weston,         ....  1820  —  1834 

William  P.  Preble,        ....  1820  —  1828 

Albion  K.  Parris,      ....  1828  —  1836 

Nicholas  Emery, 1834  —  1841 

Ether  Shepley,  ....  183()  — 1848 

John  S.  Tcnney, 1841  —  1855 

Samuel  Wells,  ....  1S48  — 1854 

Joseph  Howard, 1848  —  1855 

Richard  I).  Rice,       ....  1852  — 


JUDGES   AND   ATTORNEY   GENERALS. 


75 


Joshua  W.  Ilatliaway, 
John  Appletoii, 
Jonas  Cutting, 
Seth  May, 
Daniel  Goodenow, 
Woodbury  Davis, 
Woodbury  Davis, 
Charles  W.  Walton, 


1852  —  1859 
1852  — 
1854  — 

1854  —  1862 

1855  — 
1855  —  1856 
1857  — 
1852  — 


ATTORNEY      GENERALS. 


Erastus  Foote, 
Jonathan  P.  Rogers, 
Nathan  Clifford, 
Daniel  Goodenow, 
Otis  L.  Bridges, 
Wyman  B.  S.  Moor, 
Samuel  H.  Blake,     . 
Henry  Tallman,    . 
George  Evans,   , 
John  S.  Abbott,    . 
Nathan  D.  Apple  ton, 
Josiah  H.  Drummond, 


1820  — 

1832  — 

1833  — 
1838  — 
1842  — 
1845  — 
1847  — 
1849  — 
1852  — 
1855  — 
1857  — 
1800  — 


1832 
1833 
1838 
1842 
1845 
1847 
1848 
1852 
1855 
1857 
1860 


By  an  amendrntnt  of  the  constitution,  in  1855,  the  office 
of  Attorney  General  is  made  elective  annually  by  the  legis- 
lature. His  salary  is  fixed  at  one  thousand  dollars  a  year  : 
in  1820  it  was  eight  hundred  dollars.  The  salaries  of  the 
judges,  as  established  in  1820,  were, —  for  the  chief  justice, 
eighteen  hundred  dollars  ;  the  associates,  fifteen  hundred 
dollars  each.  In  1834,  the  salaries  were  all  put  at  sixteen 
hundred  dollars  each.  In  183G,  they  were  raised  to  eight- 
een hundred  dollars,  at  which  they  have  since  remained. 


CHAPTER    VI 


THE  PRACTITIONERS  IN  THE  COURTS  —  CHECKLEY  —  WATSON' 
BULLIVANT  —  RICHARDSON  —  READ  — AUCHMUT  Y.      FEES  — 
SALARIES  —  EARLIEST     PRACTITIONERS    IN    MAINE. 


It  has  been  observed  that  the  attornies  who  practiced  in 
the  courts,  were  men  not  educated  to  the  bar,  but  taken 
from  other  professions.  This  continued  to  be  the  case  for 
some  years  into  the  last  century,  eyen  in  Massachusetts,  and 
very  much  later  in  Maine.  Anthony  Checklcy  had  been  a 
merchant,  and  was  afterwards  chosen  attorney  general. 
Watson  had  been  a  merchant  in  London  ;  "  but  not  thriving 
there,  he  left  the  Exchange  for  Westmin^er  Hall ;  and  in 
Boston,  as  Dunton  observes,  had  become  as  dexterous  in 
splitting  of  causes,  as  if  he  had  been  bred  to  it."  Bullivant 
had  been  an  apothecary  and  physician,  and  left  these  pur- 
suits for  the  law,  in  which  he  became  skillful  and  ])roininent. 
Richardson,  another  attorney  under  the  colony,  was  a  tailor. 
Douglass,  in  his  "Summary,"  written  about  1747,  says, 
"  Generally,  in  our  colonies,  particularly  in  New  England, 
people  are  much  addicted  to  quirks  of  the  law.  A  very  ordi- 
nary countryman  in  New  England  is  almost  qualified  for  a 
country  attorney  in  England." 


ATTOENIES.  77 

Some  opinion  may  be  formed  of  the  estimation  in  which 
attornies  were  held  in  the  first  century  of  the  colony,  by 
their  exclusion  from  the  General  Court,  as  well  as  by  the 
common  sarcasms,  which  have  not  ceased  to  this  day. 
Randolph,  the  noted  secretary  of  Andros,  in  a  letter  to 
Povey,  in  England,  January,  1688,  says,  "  I  have  wrote 
you  of  the  want  we  have  of  two  or  three  honest  attornies, 
if  any  such  thing  in  nature.  We  have  but  two,  one  is 
AYest's  creature,  come  with  him  from  New  York,  and  drives 
all  before  him.  He  also  takes  extravagant  fees,  and  for 
want  of  more,  the  country  cannot  avoid  coming  to  him,  so 
that  we  had  better  be  quite  without  them  than  not  to  have 
more."  ^ 

John  Read,  who  was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar,  about 
1720,  was  the  most  eminent  lawyer  of  his  day,  and  did 
more  than  any  other  man  to  give  harmony  and  consistency 
to  the  practice,  and  to  establish  correct  forms  of  procedure 
in  court.  Many  of  his  forms  are  contained  in  modern 
books  of  precedents,  and  are  constantly  used.  He  simpli- 
fied the  prolix  and  obscure  forms  of  conveyance  used  in  the 
English  vsystcm,  and  gave  us  a  noble  gift,  the  concise  and 
comprehensive  form  of  deeds  now  used  by  us.  His  argu- 
ments to  court  and  jury  were  formed  upon  the  same  model ; 
they  were  concise,  pertinent,  and  logical ;  and,  although  he 
was  full  of  wit  and  irony,  he  permitted  no  more  of  these 
qualities  to  enter  into  his  addresses  than  was  suited  to  give 
point  or  illustration  to  his  logic.  The  goodness  of  his 
nature  was  equal  to  his  ability.  In  an  eccentric  mood,  on 
one  occasion,  he  sallied  forth  on  foot,  in  the  plainest  garb, 
to  make  a  journey,  in  which  he  gave  free  vent  to  his  frolic- 
some nature.     He  was  passing  through  a  village  in  which  a 


1  Washburu's  Judicial  History. 


78  ATTORNIES:    READ    AND    AUCIIMUTY. 

court  was  sitting  :  lie  entered  the  court  room,  in  which  a 
cause  was  about  to  come  on.  The  pLaintiif  was  poor  ;  his 
claim,  though  just,  was  somewhat  involved.  The  defendant 
was  rich,  with  many  friends  and  able  counsel.  Read  col- 
lected the  facts,  and  thinking  the  plaintiff  had  a  good  cause, 
he  offered  him  his  services.  The  offer  was  accepted,  not- 
withstanding the  uncourtly  dress  of  the  person.  When  the 
case  came  on,  the  court  and  the  bar  were  surprised  by  the 
appearance  of  the  strange  counsel.  His  outward  appear- 
ance was  soon,  however,  forgotten,  as  he  went  on  stating 
what  induced  him  to  engage  in  the  cause,  —  to  advocate 
the  rights  of  a  poor  but  honest  man.  As  he  continued, 
unfolding  the  case,  ridding  it  of  its  obscurities,  and  showing 
in  a  clear  light,  its  merits,  the  audience  and  the  court  were 
astonished  and  charmed.  He  so  clearly  expounded  the 
law,  and  applied  to  it  the  facts,  that  no  one  had  any  doubt 
of  the  justice  of  his  case.  As  soon  as  it  was  won,  he  pur- 
sued his  journey  in  quest  of  new  adventures.  ^ 

He  was  the  first  lawyer  who  was  ever  chosen  to  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  which  was  in  1738.  By  a  colony  law,  16G3,  an 
attorney  of  the  courts  was  not  eligible  as  a  deputy. 

Robert  Auchmuty,  educated  in  Dublin  and  the  Temple, 
and  admitted  to  practice  in  Boston,  in  1720,  was  another  of 
the  prominent  lawyers  of  his  time  ;  and  did  much  to  elevate 
the  character  of  the  profession,  and  to  give  system  and  order 
to  its  proceedings.  He  was  appointed  Judge  of  Admiralty 
in  1733,  and  died  in  1750.  After  this  period,  the  eminent 
lawyers  followed,  who  continued  to  and  after  the  Revolu- 
tion, and,  l)y  their  learning  and  brilliant  deeds,  illustrated 
that  period  of  our  history,  —  Otis,  the  younger  Auchmuty, 

1  The    foregoing    anecdote   I   borrow   from   S.    L.   Kiiapp's    interesting 
"Sketches,"  published  inBoston,  1821. 


FEES   AND    SALARIES.  79 

Quincy,  Trowbridge,  Gridley,  Hawley,  Paine,  Sargent, 
Sewall,  Adams  ;  and,  in  Maine,  Gushing,  Bradbury,  David 
Sewall,  and  the  Sullivans,  John  and  James. 

Attornies  were  recognized  by  the  act  of  1701  ;  and  before 
they  could  charge  fees  for  services,  or  act  in  court,  they 
were  required  to  take  an  oath  to  do  no  falsehood,  &c.,  in  the 
form  which  has  been  retained  to  this  day.  The  same  act 
prescribed  the  fee  for  an  attorney  in  the  Superior  Court  at 
twelve  shillings  ;  in  the  Inferior,  ten  shillings,  "  and  no 
more,  any  usage  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding."  This 
could  not  be  complained  of,  as  the  judges,  at  this  time,  did 
not  receive  over  fifty  pounds  a  year  for  their  services.  And 
as  late  as  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  their  salaries  did 
not  exceed  three  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  They  com- 
plained, and,  we  may  well  suppose,  justly,  that  the  compen- 
sation hardly  paid  their  traveling  expenses.  They  usually 
made  their  circuits  in  great  state.  As  they  approached  the 
shire  town,  they  were  met  by  the  sheriff,  with  an  escort  and 
a  flourish  of  trumpets  :  their  arrival  was  announced  by  the 
firing  of  a  cannon  ;  and  the  daily  summons  of  the  court, 
before  bells  were  introduced,  was  by  beating  the  drum. 

In  Maine,  the  profession  of  law  made  slow  progress,  as 
well  in  its  forms  as  in  the  persons  who  ministered  at  its 
altars.  The  Province  had  not  been  permitted,  for  more 
than  a  century  after  its  colonization,  to  enjoy  a  period  of 
repose  sufficiently  long  to  allow  any  institutions  of  civil 
government  to  become  settled  and  consolidated.  It  was  not 
until  after  all  fear  of  Indian  depredations  had  been  removed, 
that  encouragement  was  given  for  permanent  occupation 
and  extensive  improvement.  And  it  was  not,  therefore, 
until  that  very  period,  that  educated  lawyers  began  to  seek 
our  territory  for  the  practice  of  their  profession. 


80  WILLIAM    GUSHING. 

William  CusniNf;, — distinguished  and  venerable  name  ! 
—  was  the  hrst  ol"  these  ;  he  came  to  the  Province  in  17G0,' 
and  settled  on  the  Kennebec  River,  in  that  part  of  Pownal- 
boro'  which  is  now  Dresden,  where  the  Plymouth  proprietors 
afterwards  erected,  in  1761,  a  court-house,  spacious  for  that 
day,  three  stories  high,  and  which  may  still  be  seen  by  those 
who  pass  by  rail  or  river,  near  the  head  of  Swan  Island.  Mr. 
Gushing  was  son  of  Judge  John  Gushing,  and  grandson  of  an- 
other judge  of  the  same  name, —  both  of  the  Superior  Gourt. 
He  was  born  in  Scituate,  Massachusetts,  1733,  graduated 
at  Harvard  Gollege,  1751,  kept  school  in  Roxbury  a  year, 
and,  after  finishing  his  studies  with  the  eminent  lawyer, 
Jeremiah  Gridley,  he  established  himself  in  Maine.  He 
was  made  the  first  Judge  of  Probate  of  Lincoln  Gouuty  in 
1760,  as  his  brother  Gharles,  a  graduate  of  1755,  was  made 
the  first  sheriff.  Daniel  Davis,  the  distinguished  solicitor, 
said  in  a  letter  to  me,  that  "  Mr.  Gushing  commenced  prac- 
tice in  the  ancient  town  of  Pownalboro',  which  then  com- 
prehended the  towns  of  Dresden  and  Wiscasset.  He  was 
translated  to  the  bench,  during  his  practice  as  a  lawyer  in 
Pownalboro'.  He  resided  in  the  family  of  his  brother 
Gharles,  who  -was  sheriff  of  the  Gounty  of  Lincoln,  and 
afterwards  Glerk  of  the  Supreme  Gourt  for  '  a  time  whereof 
the  memory  of  man  runneth  not  to  the  contrary.'  " 

At  the  time  Mr.  Gushing  commenced  practice  in  Dresden, 
there  was  no  house  on  the  Kennebec  River,  from  two  miles 
above  that  place,  to  the  settlements  in  Ganada,  except  the 
block-houses  at  Augusta  and  Winslow,  then  called  Forts 
Weston  and  Halifax.  The  whole  country,  as  a  witness  once 
said  in  court,  was  an  "  eminent  wilderness."  Of  all  the 
judges  and  officers  of  the  courts  in  the  three  counties,  and 

1  Governor  Washburn,  in  his  valuable  "  Judicial  History  of  Massachusetts," 
says  he  went  there  in  1755.  I  think  he  is  in  error  in  that  date.  He  went 
there,  as  I  have  reason  to  believe,  in  1760,  as  Judge  of  Probate. 


CUSHING  :    NOAH   EMERY.  81 

of  the  county  officers,  he  was  the  solitary  lawyer, —  he  stood 
alone  as  an  educated  lawyer  in  this  spacious  territory.  How 
extensive  his  practice,  or  what  was  his  standing  as  a  lawyer, 
can  only  be  inferred  from  the  marks  of  favor  which  he  re- 
ceived from  the  governments,  before  and  after  the  Revolution ; 
and  from  the  distinguished  ability  with  which  for  thirty- 
eight  years  he  discharged  his  duties  as  a  judge.  In  1772, 
he  was  appointed  successor  of  his  father  on  the  bench  of 
the  Superior  Court ;  and,  in  1777,  was  appointed  chief  jus- 
tice of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts  by  the  Revolu- 
tionary government,  —  the  first  to  hold  that  office.  In  1789, 
Washington  appointed  him  to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  the  United  States^  which  office  he  held  at  the  time 
of  his  death,  in  1810.  He  was  a  man  of  tall  and  dignified 
presence,  and  as  he  moved  along  the  streets,  with  his  cocked 
hat,  bush  wig,  and  small  clothes,  he  made  an  imposing 
appearance,  which  attracted  general  attention. 

Noah  Emery,  a  native  of  Kittcry,  was  the  earliest  resident 
lawyer  in  Maine  ;  who,  although  not  educated  for  the  bar, 
seems  to  have  possessed  much  legal  acumen  and  accuracy. 
He  was  a  cooper  by  trade,  and  came  to  the  bar  about  1725. 
He  was  descended  from  Anthony  Emery,  who  was  a  carpen- 
ter, and  came  to  this  country  from  Romsey,  England,  with 
his  brother  John,  and  settled  in  Kittery,  where,  and  throuoh 
this  State  and  New  Hampshire,  his  descendants  are  numer- 
ous, and  many  of  them  distinguished. 

Noah  Emery  was  the  son  of  Daniel  Emery  and  Eliza, 
daughter  of  William  (Jowen,  and  was  born  in  that  part  of 
ancient  Kittery  which  is  now  Elliot,  December  11,  1(399. 
He  married  for  his  first  wife,  Elizabeth  Chick  of  Kittery, 
January  22,  1722  ;  and  for  his  second  wife,  Mrs.  Sarah 
Cooper  of  Berwick,  October  30,  1740.  His  will,  dated  Jan- 
uary 1,  1701,  was   approved  January  (!,  1702  :    in  this  he 


82  .     CALEB    AND   JOHN    EMERY. 

names  but  five  children  ;  viz.,  his  eldest  son,  Daniel,  Noah, 
Richard,  Japheth,  and  John.  To  Noah  and  Richard  he 
devised  lands  in  New  Hampsliire,  from  which  I  infer  that 
he  was  the  ancestor  of  the  Exeter  family,  in  which  the 
grandfather  and  father  ,  of  Judge  Nicholas  Emery,  late  of 
Portland,  were  named  Noah  ;  and,  I  think,  were  the  son 
and  grandson  of  the  subject  of  this  notice.  Mr.  Emery  was 
a  ready  draftsman,  of  quick  perceptions  and  considerable 
ability,  which  gave  him  an  extensive  practice.  He  was  on 
several  occasions,  from  1741  to  1759,  appointed  King's 
Attorney.     He  died  in  1762. 

Caleb  Emery,  a  kinsman  of  Noah,  either  a  brother  or  a 
cousin,  succeeded  him  in  his  practice.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  of  the  Common  Pleas,  in  York  County,  in  1750, 
as  a  copy  of  the  record  before  me  shows,  and  "  took  the 
oath  appointed  by  law,  "  the  judges  present  being  Sir 
William  Pepperell,  Jeremiah  Moulton,  and  Simon  Frost. 
Mr.  Emery  was  generally  employed  in  agricultural  pursuits. 
He  commenced  practice  in  Kittery,  but  moved  to  York. 
In  1701,  he  was  appointed,  by  the  Common  Pleas,  King's 
Attorney.  The  duty  of  this  officer  was  similar  to  that  of 
County  or  District  Attorney,  at  the  present  day  ;  they  were 
appointed  from  term  to  term  by  the  court  to  attend  to  the 
criminal  and  county  business.  lie  retired  from  practice 
during  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  never  resumed  it. 

John  Emery,  another  of  this  family,  was  in  practice  in 
1752,  but  not  educated,  and  he  seldom  a])pears  upon  the 
records  :  it  is  probable  that  his  business  and  legal  merits 
were  not  prominent.  I  have  been  unable  to  obtain  any 
definite  knowledge  concerning  him. 


CHAPTER    VII. 


IRREGULAR     PRACTITIONERS  —  BAR  RULES   AGAINST   THEM 

DAVID     SEWALL  —  DISTRICT     COURT  —  LAW- 
YERS   FROM   OTHER   COLONIES. 


In  Cumberland  County  there  was  no  regular  lawyer  until 
after  the  county  was  organized  ;  but  there  were  several 
persons  in  Falmouth,  now  Portland,  of  education  and  cler- 
ical habits,  who,  no  doubt,  attended  the  court,  —  the  Com- 
mon Pleas  being  the  only  one  sitting  there,  —  to  assist 
parties  in  their  suits:  these  were,  —  Jabez  Fox,  Enoch 
Freeman,  and  the  elder  Stephen  Longfellow,  who  were  all 
graduates  of  Harvard.  At  a  later  period,  Samuel  Freeman, 
the  son  of  Enoch,  was  largely  employed  in  this  kind  of  busi- 
ness. After  regular  lawyers  were  established  there,  a  severe 
bar  rule  was  adopted  to  cut  off  such  practice. 

I  find  on  the  York  dockets  numerous  entries  made  by 
irregular  practitioners.  In  July  term,  17G7,  out  of  twenty- 
five  entries,  Thomas  Bragdon,  John  Frost,  Colonel  Donnell, 
and  Colonel  Sparhawk  made  ten,  while  John  Sullivan  made 
five  ;  James,  two  ;  David  Sewall,  eight.  In  April  term, 
1774,  Wycr,  of  Falmouth,  made  twenty  entries  ;  Caleb 
Fmery,  seven  ;  Sewall,  thirty-two  ;  James  Sullivan,  twenty- 
four  ;  John,  nine  ;  irregular  practitioners  but  six. 


8-1         IRREGULAR   PRACTITIONERS  :    BAR   RULES  :    SEWALL. 

Enoch  Freeman,  in  Cnmbcrland,  filled  twenty-eight  writs 
for  April  term,  1758  ;  fourteen  for  October  term,  and  eleven 
for  the  next  January  term.  His  fee  for  writ  and  summons 
was  eight  shillings.  John  Adams,  in  his  diary,  speaks 
repeatedly  of  the  evil  arising  from  the  practice  of  unedu- 
cated and  ignorant  men,  as  deputy  sheriffs,  &c.,  drawing 
writs  and  otlier  proceedings  :  he  mentions  three  in  his 
neighborhood.  It  became  so  great  an  abuse,  that  it  was 
prohibited  by  law.  Under  1763,  he  says  the  bar  agreed 
Tipon  four  rules  :  1st,  That  nobody  should  answer  to  a  suit, 
but  the  plaintiff  himself,  or  some  sworn  attorney,  and  that 
a  general  power  should  not  be  admitted.  2d,  That  no  attor- 
ney fee  should  be  allowed  where  the  declaration  was  not 
drawn  by  the  plaintiff,  or  a  sworn  attorney.  3d,  That  no 
attendance  should  be  taxed  unless  the  party  attend  person- 
ally, or  by  a  sworn  attorney.  4th,  That  no  attorney  be 
allowed  to  practice  in  the  Superior  or  Inferior  Courts, 
unless  duly  sworn.  When  these  rules  were  presented  to  the 
court  for  adoption,  James  Otis  sharply  opposed  them,  on  the 
ground  that  "  all  schemes  to  suppress  pettifoggers,  must 
rest  on  the  honor  of  the  bar."  The  members  of  the  bar 
were  filled  with  indignation  against  Otis  for  his  opposition, 
and  abused  him  without  measure.  Thacher  moved,  that, 
in  the  invitations  to  the  judges,  the  expression  should  be, — 
the  bar,  —  exclusive  of  Mr.  Otis,  —  invites,  &c. 

Mr.  Adams  says,  soon  after  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar, 
1758,  "  He  found  the  practice  of  law  was  grasped  into  the 
hands  of  deputy  sheriffs,  pettifoggers,  and  even  constables, 
who  filled  all  the  writs  upon  bonds,  promissory  notes,  and 
accounts,  and  received  the  fees  established  for  lawyers,  and 
stirred  up  many  unnecessary  suits." 

David  Sewall,  a  native  of  York,  born  in  1735,  was  the 
second  educated  lawyer,  resident  in  Maine  ;  he  descended 


DAVID   SEWALL.  85 

from  Henry  Sewall,  tlie  first  emigrant  of  the  name,  through 
his  son  John,  a  brother  of  Chief  Justice  Stephen  Sewall.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard,  in  1755,  a  classmate  of  John  Adams, 
the  second  President  of  the  United  States,  and  of  Sheriff 
Charles  Cushing.  He  studied  law  with  Judge  William  Par- 
ker of  Portsmouth,  whose  daughter  Mary  he  afterwards 
married.  He  established  himself  in  the  practice  at  York, 
in  1759,  and  pursued  it,  in  connection  with  the  office  of 
Register  of  Probate,  to  which  he  was  appointed  in  17G6, 
with  much  success,  until  his  appointment  as  associate  jus- 
tice of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts,  in  1777.  After 
an  honorable  service  of  twelve  years  in  this  court,  he  was 
appointed  by  President  Washington,  in  1789,  a  judge  of 
the  United  States  Court  for  the  District  of  Maine ;  this 
Court  theji  had  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Circuit  Court  of 
the  United  States. 

We  insert  the  commission  of  judge,  with  the  commence- 
ment of  the  records  of  the  court,  in  the  elegant  writing  of 
Henry  Sewall,  the  first  clerk : 

"  Records  of  the  District  Court  of  the  U.  S.,  begun  and 
held  at  Portland,  witliin  and  for  the  District  of  Maine  on 
tlie  first  Tuesday  of  December,  A.  D.  1789,  being  the  fifth 
day  of  the  same  month. 
"  The   court   being  opened,   the   commissions   following 

were  read  — 

[seal.]  "  George  Washington  President  of  the  U.  S.  of  A. 

"  To  all  who  shall  see  these  presents,  Greeting : 
"  Know  ye,  that  reposing  special  trust  and  confidence  in 
the  wisdom,  uprightness  and  learning  of  David  Sewall  of 
Maine  District,  Es(].,I  have  nominated,  and  by  and  with  the 
advice  and  consent  of  the  Senate,  do  appoint  him.  Judge  of 
the  District  Court  in  and  for  the  said  District:  and  do 
authorize  and  empower  him  to  execute  and  fulfil  the  duties 


86  DAVID    SEWALL. 

of  that  office  according*  to  the  Constitution  and  Laws  of  the 
U.  S.  And  to  have  and  to  hold  said  office,  with  all  the 
powers,  privileges  and  emoluments  to  the  same  of  right 
appertaining  unto  him  the  said  David  Sewall  during  his 
good  behavior." 

The  commission  is  dated  September  26,  1789,  and  signed, 
"  G-eorge  Washington." 

December  1,  1789,  Judge  Sewall  took  the  oath  prescribed 
by  the  law,  before  Samuel  Freeman,  Richard  Codman,  John 
Frothingham,  and  Daniel  Davis,  Justices  of  the  Peace. 

On  the  same  day,  the  oaths  prescribed  l)y  law  were 
respectively  administered  by  Ju(^ge  Sewall  to  "William  Lith- 
gow,  Jr.,  as  District  Attorney,  and  to  Henry  Dearborn,  as 
Marshal,  whose  commissions  also  bear  date,  September 
26,  1789. 

The  next  year  after  his  appointment,  it  fell  to  his  lot  to 
have  the  first  trial  for  piracy  which  had  occurred  under  the 
new  government.  The  prisoner,  Thomas  Bird,  was  con- 
victed and  executed  in  Portland,  in  June,  1790,  —  General 
Henry  Dearborn  was  Marshal,  and  officiated  at  the  execu- 
tion. 

Judge  Sewall  held  this  office  until  1818,  discharging  its 
duties  with  great  fidelity  and  urbanity,  when  the  infirmities 
of  age  admonished  him  to  retire  from  all  active  labor.  He 
was  President  of  the  Board  of  Overseers  of  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege fourteen  years,  and  near  seventeen  years  Register  of 
Probate  in  York  County.  He  died  in  1825,  at  the  age  of 
ninety,  having  filled  the  office  of  judge  forty-one  years.  He 
left  no  family.  Judge  Sewall  was  a  man  of  great  benevo- 
lence, unassuming  in  his  deportment,  social  and  amiable  in 
his  manners,  and  of  great  purity  of  character.  He  remarked 
to  a  friend  near  the  close  of  his  days,  that  if  he  were  to 
lead  his  life  over  again,  he  did  not  know  that  he  should 
wish  to  alter  it.     Fontencllc,  the  celebrated  French  philoso- 


i 


DISTRICT   COURT  :    LAWYERS   FROM   OTHER  COLONIES.        87 

pher  and  author,  expressed  a  similar  sentiment :  "  Had  I 
again  to  begin  my  career,  I  would  do  as  I  luive  done."  He 
might  more  justly  have  said,  "  I  would  do  better."  He 
was,  however,  a  man  of  genial  temperament,  of  benevolent 
character,  and  led  a  happy  life.  He  died  in  1757,  one 
hundred  years  old. 

The  District  Court  of  Maine  furnishes  a  remarkable 
instance  of  the  conservative  character  of  the  United  States 
judiciary  department.  In  this  court  there  have  been  but 
three  judges  from  its  organization  in  1789,  when  Judge 
Sewall  was  appointed,  to  the  present  day,  seventy-three 
years.  Judge  Sewall  presided  in  it  twenty-nine  years, 
Judge  Parris  three  years,  and  was  succeeded  by  Judge 
AVare,  in  1822,  who  now,  after  forty  years'  service,  ably  dis- 
charges its  duties.  The  District  Court  of  Massachusetts 
presents  a  similar  example,  that  having  had  but  three 
judges;  viz.,  John  Lowell,  John  Davis,  and  the  present 
incumbent,  Judge  Spraguc,  who  has  held,  since  1841,  the 
office,  which  was  filled  by  Judge  Davis,  with  great  ability 
and  fidelity,  forty  years. 

In  cases  of  importance,  as  well  as  on  ordinary  occasions, 
regularly  educated  lawyers  from  New  Hampshire  and  Mas- 
sachusetts attended  the  courts  in  Maine.  Among  these  we 
find  Matthew  Livermore,  William  Parker,  and  Samuel 
Livermore,  of  Portsmouth ;  Daniel  Parnham  and  John 
Lowell,  of  Ncwburyport ;  John  Chi])man,  of  ]\[arblchcad ; 
John  Sullivan,  of  Durham,  New  Hamjjshirc  ;  James  Otis, 
Jeremiah  Gridley,  Jonathan  Sewall,  and  John  Adams,  of 
Boston. 

In  the  great  case  of  the  Plymoutli  and  Pojoj)scot  proprie- 
tors, involving  valuable  titles  on  the  Androscoggin  and"  Ken- 


I 


88  LAWYERS   FROM  OTHER   COLONIES. 

ncbec  Ilivcrs,  tried  in  the  Common  Pleas  at  Falmouth,  in 
1754,  Otis  and  Gridley,  the  two  most  distinguished  lawyers 
in  Massachusetts,  were  present  as  counsel  for  the  parties. 
At  the  July  term,  1768,  of  the  Superior  Court,  in  Falmouth, 
Mr.  Chipman,  who  was  in  attendance,  was  seized  with  an 
apoplectic  fit  in  the  court  room,  and  died  within  three  hours. 
The  late  President  John  Adams  attended  the  courts  in 
Maine  for  twelve  successive  years  prior  to  the  Revolution. 
The  worthy  Judge  Bailey  of  Wiscasset,  a  short  time  before 
his  death,  which  took  place  in  1853,  observed  to  me,  "  In  a 
call  I  made  upon  the  elder  President  Adams,  at  Quincy,  not 
long  before  he  died,  he  stated  that  in  his  early  law  practice, 
he  once  attended  the  Superior  Court  at  Pownalboro',  now 
Dresden,  in  the  County  of  Lincoln,  where  the  old  court 
house  is  yet  standing  on  the  bank  of  the  Kennebec  River  ; 
and  that  from  Brunswick  to  the  ferry  over  that  river,  he  was 
guided  by  marked  trees,  and  by  the  same  kind  of  guide  up 
the  river  to  the  court  house."  It  was  at  one  of  the  last 
terms  of  his  attendance  on  the  court  in  Falmouth,  that  the 
separation  took  place  between  him  and  his  intimate  friend, 
Jonathan  Sewall,  who  had  yielded  to  the  blandishments  and 
patronage  of  the  Crovernment,  and  adhered  to  the  royal 
party.  They  walked  together  upon  Munjoy's  Hill,  in  Port- 
land, in  July,  1774,  before  breakfast,  and  earnestly  discussed 
the  great  questions  which  were  agitating  the  country.  They 
could  not  convince  each  other,  and  Mr.  Adams  terminated 
the  conversation  by  saying,  "  I  see  we  must  part ;  and  with 
a  bleeding  heart  I  say  it,  I  fear  forever ;  but  you  may 
depend  upon  it,  that  this  adieu  is  the  sharpest  thorn  on 
which  I  ever  set  my  foot."  After  this,  they  did  not  meet 
again  until  Mr.  Adams  called  upon  him  in  London,  in  1788 
as  ambassador  of  the  free  American  States.  Sewall  died  in 
Halifax,  in  179G,  aged  about  sixty-two. 


GRIDLEY  :   MATTHEW   LIVERMORE.  89 

Jeremiah  Gridley  was  a  very  able  lawyer :  he  died  in 
1767,  and  was  succeeded  in  his  office  of  Attorney  General 
by  Jonathan  Sewall.  The  celebrated  John  Gardiner,  of 
whom  we  shall  have  something  to  say,  by  and  by,  in  a  speech 
in  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  on  special  pleading,  said, 
"  This  erroneous  opinion  of  the  profession  here  was  taken 
from  a  mere  dictum  of  the  late  Mr.  Gridley,  who,  though  a 
mighty  pompous  man,  was  a  man  of  considerable  learning 
and  abilities  —  in  learnffig  and  genius,  however,  almost  infi- 
nitely inferior  to  that  great  giant  of  learning  and  genius, 
the  law  member  from  Newburyport,"  (Theophilus  Parsons). 
The  Diary  of  John  Adams  confirms  this  judgment,  taken  on 
the  spot  by  him,  just  entering  the  bar,  —  "  Gridley's  gran- 
deur consists  in  his  great  learning,  his  great  parts,  and  his 
majestic  manner  ;  but  it  is  diminished  by  stiffness  and 
affectation." 

Matthew  Livermore,  of  Portsmouth,  was  son  of  Samuel 
Livermore,  of  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  where  he  was 
born  in  1703.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  1722, 
and  went  to  Portsmouth,  in  1724,  to  take  charge  of  a  school, 
and,  at  the  same  time,  pursue  his  legal  studies.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1731,  at  which  time  there  was  no 
regularly  educated  lawyer  in  that  town.  He  was  an  accom- 
plished lawyer,  and  had  an  extensive  business  in  Maine  as 
well  as  New  Hampshire.  He  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Belcher,  Attorney  General  of  the  Province,  and  King's 
Advocate  in  the  Admiralty  Court ;  and  was  afterwards 
judge  of  the  Superior  Court  of  New  Hampshire.  He  died 
February  14,  1770. 

Samuel  Livermore,  also  a  distinguished  practitioner  in 
Maine,  lived  in  Portsmouth.  He  descended  from  John  Liv- 
I'rmore,  of  Watertown,  and  was  the  sou  of   Samuel  Liver- 

7 


90  SAMUEL  LIYERMORE  :    WILLIAM   PARKER. 

more,  of  Waltliam,  Massachusetts,  where  he  was  born  May 
15,  1732.  He  graduated  at  Princeton  College,  in  1752, 
pursued  his  law  studies  with  Judge  Trowbridge,  and  com- 
menced practice  in  Portsmouth.  He  was  appointed  Attor- 
ney General  of  New  Hampshire,  in  1769,  and  was  re-ap- 
pointed by  the  Revolutionary  government.  He  was  several 
times  delegate  to  the  Continental  Congress,  and  was  made 
chief  justice  of  New  Hampshire,  in  1782  ;  was  a  member  of 
the  convention  for  adopting  the  Federal  Constitution,  and 
afterwards  successively  representative  and  senator  in  Con- 
gress. He  died  full  of  honors  in  1803.  His  sons,  Edward 
St.  Loe  and  Arthur,  were  long  judges  of  the  Superior 
Court  of  New  Hampshire.  Arthur  was  chief  justice  fifteen 
years.  Elijah  Livermore,  brother  of  Samuel,  was  chief 
proprietor  of  the  town  of  Livermore,  in  Maine,  and  the 
first  settler,  —  taking  with  him  emigrants  from  Waltliam 
and  neighboring  towns,  and  inducing  others  to  migrate. 
Bond,  in  his  History  of  Watertown,  says,  "  He  was  a  man 
of  great  worth." 

William  Parker,  also  from  Portsmouth,  had  a  large 
practice  in  Maine.  He  was  by  trade  a  tanner,  and  had 
received  only  such  an  education  as  was  furnished  by  the 
common  schools  of  his  native  town.  When  he  became 
twenty-one,  he  commenced  the  study  of  the  law,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1732.  He  early  distinguished  him- 
self in  his  profession  by  great  natural  abilities  and  liberal  cul- 
ture, and  rose  rapidly  in  his  business  and  reputation.  He  was 
successively  appointed  Register  of  Probate,  King's  Attorney 
for  Maine,  Judge  of  Admiralty,  and,  in  1771,  Judge  of  the 
Superior  Court  of  New  Hampshire.  Rut  being  a  loyalist, 
he  relin(|uishcd  that  office  at  the  oi)ening  of  the  Revolution. 
He  was  the  father  of  Bishop  Parker  of  Boston,  Judge  AVil- 
liam   of  Exeter,  of  Mrs.  Judge  Scwall  of  York,  and  of 


DANIEL   PARNHAM  :    JOHN   CIIIPMAN.  91 

Lydia,  the  grandmother  of  Senator  John  P.  Hale  of  New 
Hampsliire. 

Daniel  Farnham  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  in  1739  ; 
he  had  an  extensive  practice  in  the  courts,  both  of  York 
and  Cumberland,  up  to  the  period  of  the  Revolution.  He 
was  an  able  lawyer,  and  was  occasionally  appointed  King's 
Attorney  in  York  County.  He  died  in  1776,  aged  fifty-six. 
His  daughter,  Sybil,  married  Dr.  Micajah  Sawyer,  a  cel- 
ebrated physician  in  Newburyport,  and  was  the  mother  of 
Dr.  William  Sawyer,  Harvard  College,  1788,  who  died 
in  Boston,  1859,  aged  eighty-eight.  He  also  left  a  son, 
"William.  Levi  Lincoln,  the  elder,  of  Worcester,  studied 
law  with  Mr.  Farnham. 

In  a  trial  in  Cumberland  County,  1763,  between  the  Rev. 
Mr.  Smith  of  Falmouth  and  the  Brackett  family,  where  the 
title  to  a  large  island  in  Portland  Harbor  was  involved,  we 
find  the  counsel  employed,  were,  —  for  the  plaintiff:  Mr. 
Chipman  of  Marblehead,  David  Sewall  of  York,  and  David 
AVyer  of  Falmouth  ;  for  the  defense,  Samuel  Livermore  of 
Portsmouth,  and  Daniel  Farnham.  Mr.  Livermore's  fee  for 
arguing  the  cause  for  Mr.  Smith  was  six  pounds,  thirteen  shil- 
lings, and  four  pence,  lawful, —  twenty-two  dollars  and  twen- 
ty-three cents,  —  as  appears  by  the  receipt  in  my  possession. 

Mr.  Chipman  was  a  son  of  the  Rev.  John  Chipman  of 
Beverly,  who  was  grandson  of  John  of  Barnstable  and 
Hope  Howland.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  1738  ; 
was  father  of  Ward  Chipman,  a  refugee,  and  agent  of  the 
British  government  in  settling  the  eastern  boundary  line  ; 
and  orandfathcr  of  the  late  Ward  Chipman,  chief  justice  of 
New  Brunswick.  His  daughter  married  the  late  W"  . 
Gray  of  Boston.  ^    % 


CHAPTER    VIII. 


TEAVELING  THE   CIRCUIT  —  RESIDENT  LAWYERS    PRIOR  TO   THE 

REVOLUTION  —  BRADBURY  —  WYER  —  PARSONS  —  THE 

SULLIVANS — LANGDON — GUSHING — STOCKBRIDGE. 


I  HAVE  thus  given  the  names  of  all  the  persons  who  prac- 
ticed in  the  courts  of  Main?,  to  tlie  year  17G0,  when  the 
counties  of  Cumberland  and  Lincoln  were  incorporated. 
It  appears  that,  of  the  regularly  educated  lawyers,  but  two 
were  residents  in  the  Province,  the  others  were  from  the 
two  neighboring  colonies.  It  was  the  custom,  which  con- 
tinued many  years  after  the  Revolution,  for  the  judges  to 
travel  their  circuits^on  horseback ;  and  the  lawyers  attended 
the  circuits  in  the  same  manner.  This  mode  of  conveyance 
was  rendered  necessary,  where  they  could  not  conveniently 
reach  their  destination  by  water,  on  account  of  the  impassa- 
ble nature  of  the  roads  by  carriages,  through  the  forests 
which  then  covered  the  country.  Some  of  the  prominent 
lawyers  of  the  State,  such  as  Mellen,  "Wilde,  Davis,  Orr, 
Lee,  Holmes,  McGaw,  Wilson,  Crosby,  etc.,  were  in  the  habit 
of  attending  the  courts  holden  out  of  their  own  counties, 
down  to  the  time  of  the  separation  of  the  State. 

""^er  the  organization  of  the  counties  of  Cumberland  and 
Li^ooln,  and  the  establishment  of  additional  courts,  young 


THEOPHILUS  BRADBURY:  DAVID  WYER.        93 

and  enterprising  lawyers  dared  to  venture  into  this  almost 
unexplored  territory. 

Theophilus  Bradbury  was  the  first  of  these  adventurers: 
he  was  a  descendant  of  Thomas  Bradbury,  who  settled  in 
Salisbury,  Massachusetts,  about  1638 ;  and  was  born  in 
Newbury,  in  1739.  His  parents  were  Theophilus  Bradbury 
and  Ann  Woodman.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  in  1757,  in 
the  class  with  Revs.  Tristam  Gilman  and  Edward  Brooks, 
ministers  of  North  Yarmouth  ;  and  was  admitted  to  prac- 
tice in  May,  1761,  at  the  first  term  held  for  Cumberland 
County :  previous  to  which  time  he  had  kept  the  grammar 
school  in  Portland.  He  was  the  first  educated  lawyer  who 
established  himself  in  the  territory  lying  between  the  towns 
of  York  and  Pownalboro'.     He  was  soon  followed  by 

David  Wyer,  a  native  of  Charlestown,  Massachusetts, 
and  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  in  the  class  of  1758  ;  who 
studied  his  profession  with  James  Otis  of  Boston,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  here,  October  term,  1762.  He  also  had 
taught  a  school  in  the  town  before  his  admission.  John 
Adams,  in  his  Diary,  page  269,  says  that  Wyer  was  his  chum. 
This  must  have  been  in  Wyer's  freshman  year,  as  Adams 
graduated  in  1755. 

As  these  were  the  only  lawyers  in  the  county,  until  1774, 
they  engrossed  the  business,  and  were  always  employed  on 
opposite  sides.  Their  characters  were  as  much  at  variance 
as  was  the  current  of  their  practice  :  Bradbury  was  grave 
and  dignified ;  Wyer,  gay  and  full  of  satire,  and  the  shafts 
of  his  wit  did  not  always  fall  harmless  from  the  sliicld  of 
his  adversary.  They  were  both  good  lawyers,  and  their 
forensic  struggles  aiforded  gratification,  and  often  amuse- 
ment, to  the  attendants  upon  the  courts.    Bradbury  was  a 


94  BRADBURY  :    WYER. 

better  special  pleader,  and  his  character  and  manners  j^ave 
him  much  influence  with  the  jury.  Wyer,  hy  his  brilliant 
sallies,  often  carried  the  audience,  if  he  did  not  win  his 
cause.  Bradbury  was  an  earnest  Congregationalist,  while 
Wyer  gave  a  no  less  warm  support  to  the  growth  of  Episco- 
pacy, which  was  then  just  planting  its  roots  in  this  virgin 
soil.  Wyer  died  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-six,  in  1776, 
leaving  a  family  which  is  transmitted  in  the  female  line. 
Bradbury  was  driven  aAvay  by  the  destruction  of  Falmouth, 
in  1775,  and  established  himself  in  his  native  town,  where, 
in  1796,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  Congress,  and  the  next 
year  appointed  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court.  He 
died  in  1803. 

Mr.  Davis,  to  whose  letter  I  have  before  referred,  remarks, 
"  I  have  heard  about  David  Wyer  from  the  late  Gov.  Sulli- 
van, and  some  of  his  cotemporaries,  who  were  refugees  from 
Falmouth,  and  who  returned  after  the  peace  of  1783.  They 
said  he  was  a  high-minded,  sterling  fellow,  of  strong  talents, 
an  able  and  eloquent  advocate,  and  extremely  independent 
in  his  opinions  and  character.  He  and  the  late  Judge 
Bradbury  were  always  antagonists  in  their  professional 
career,  and  as  there  was  a  great  difference  in  the  two  gen- 
tlemen, I  have  heard  many  anecdotes  of  them  that  would 
not  be  proper  for  the  public  eye.  Bradbury  was  always 
grave  and  judicious,  and  had  great  influence  with  the  court 
and  jury.  Wyer  was  fviU  of  wit  and  vivacity.  This  contrast 
frequently  gave  birth  to  scenes  in  the  forum,  very  much  to 
the  amusement  of  their  mutual  friends." 

Mr.  Wyer  married  Miss  Russell,  a  niece  of  Thomas  Rus- 
sell of  Charlestown,  October,  1764,  by  whom  lie  left  a  son 
and  daughter  ;  the  daughter  married  Samuel  Waite,  a  son 
of  Stephen  Warte  of  Portland,  and  had  a  family. 

Mr.  Bradbury  married  a  daughter  of  E])lu"uini  Jones  of 
Falmouth.  I)y  whom  lie  liad    several  sons  and  daughters. 


THEOPHILUS    PARSONS  :    JAMES   SULLIVAN.  95 

His  son  Cliarlcs  was  long;  a  respectable  merchant  in  Boston ; 
and  George,  a  graduate  of"  Harvard,  1789,  was  a  lawyer  at 
Newburyport  and  Portland,  and  was  a  representative  in 
Congress  from  the  Cumberland  District  two  terms,  1813  — 
1817.     He  died  in  1823. 

While  these  young  and  ardent  advocates  were  pursuing 
their  eminent  career,  another  aspirant  came  among  them, 
destined  to  eclipse  both,  and  to  take  his  stand  pre-eminently 
at  the  head  of  the  bar  and  the  bench  in  New  England,  — 

Theophilus  Parsons,  who,  after  leaving  college  in  1769, 
came  to  Falmouth  as  a  teacher  of  the  grammar  school,  and 
commenced  the  study  of  his  profession  with  Theophilus 
Bradbury.  He  began  his  school  in  June,  1770,  and  kept  it 
till  September,  1773.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  July, 
1774,  and  had  already  begun  to  distinguish  himself,  when 
the  Revolution  and  the  destruction  of  Falmouth  removed 
from  our  State  one  of  the  brightest  lights  of  jurisprudence 
which  the  annals  of  our  country  have  furnished. 

These  were  all  the  lawyers  who  were  settled  in  Cumber- 
land prior  to  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution.  lu 
Lincoln  County,  three  promising  young  men  established 
themselves. 

James  Sullivan,  the  first  of  these,  born  in  Berwick,  in 
1744,  studied  law  with  his  brother  John,  in  Durham, 
New  Hampshire,  and  opened  an  office  in  Ceorgetown,  on 
the  Kennebec,  in  1707.  He  remained  there  but  two  years, 
when  he  removed  to  Biddeford,  and  during  the  war,  1778, 
to  Massachusetts.  From  the  commencement  of  the  Revolu- 
tion to  the  close  of  his  life,  in  1808,  he  was  constantly  in 
official  stations,  as  member  of  the  legislature,  commissary 
of  the  troops,  judge  of  the   Superior  Court,  Attorney  Gen- 


96  THEOPHILUS   PARSONS:   JAMES   SULLIVAN. 

eral,  commissioner  of  the  United  States,  and  died  in  his 
second  term  as  governor  of  Massachusetts,  December  10, 
1808.  Amid  all  these  duties  he  found  time  to  engage 
largely  in  litei'ary  labors,  as  the  historian  of  Maine,  a  con- 
tributor to  the  collections  of  the  Massachusetts  Historical 
Society,  of  which  he  was  a  prime  mover  and  first  president, 
and,  as  a  politician,  to  the  piiblic  press.  No  man  of  his 
time  was  more  full  of  active  and  successful  duty,  than  this 
accomplished  lawyer  and  able  advocate. 

At  a  meeting  of  gentlemen  from  several  towns,  held  in 
Falmouth,  November  4,  1775,  at  Colonel  Tyhg's  house, 
Colonel  Mitchell,  Moderator,  "  Mr.  James  Sullivan  was 
chosen  commander-in-chief  over  the  militia  and  the  other 
companies  now  in  pay  in  the  province."  "  Voted  that  4 
persons  be  appointed  to  assist  Mr.  Sullivan.  Voted  that 
Col.  Mitchell  be  second  in  command  —  Col.  Fogg  third." 
Mr.  Sullivan  was  then  but  thirty-one  years  old. 

The  following  characteristic  language  is  from  a  letter  in 
my  possession,  from  him  to  S,  Freeman,  then  in  the  Provin- 
cial Congress,  January  21,  1770  :  "  I  am  surprised  the 
militia  bill  is  where  you  mention  in  your  last.  I  fear  our 
country  will  owe  its  destruction  to  the  squeamishness  of  our 
Gen.  Court.  Bold  and  manly  strides  arc  necessary  in  war : 
what  is  done  amiss  in  war,  may  bo  set  right  in  time  of 
peace." 

No  lawyer  was  thought  better  able  than  he  to  compete 
with  the  ablest  jurist  of  Massachusetts  ;  and  he  and  Parsons 
were  very  often  engaged  on  opposite  sides  of  a  controversy, 
when  the  conflict  was  severe,  and  in  a  higli  degree  interest- 
ing. Their  strong  antagonism  in  politics  also  gave  a  zest 
to  their  encounters ;  which,  however,  from  men  of  such 
superior  intellect,  were  generally  courteous  and  respectful. 
On  one  occasion,  Sullivan  became  much  excited  in  a  cause, 
in  which  he  was  opposed  by  Parsons,  and  exclaimed,  —  "I 


JOHN   SULLIVAN.  97 

thank  God,  I  never  took  a  bribe  from  any  man."  Parsons 
coolly  replied,  —  "I  thank  God,  I  never  met  a  man  ^vho 
dared  offer  me  one." 

It  has  been  told  me,  that  Mr.  Sullivan,  when  engaged  in 
the  examination  of  aged  witnesses  in  court,  would  often  lead 
his  inquiries  into  an  historical  line,  in  order  to  extract 
information  which  enabled  him  to  accumulate  materials  for 
his  History  of  the  State. 

Biographies  of  these  distinguished  men  have  recently 
been  published  in  an  extended  form  ;  that  of  Parsons  by  his 
son,  the  Professor  of  Law  at  Harvard  ;  and  of  Sullivan,  by 
his  grandson,  Mr.  Amory  of  Boston. 

John  Sullivan,  elder  brother  of  James,  after  trying  his 
hand  at  sea,  at  the  age  of  seventeen  or  eighteen,  entered 
the  office  of  Mr.  Livermore  of  Portsmouth,  where  he  very 
successfully  and  honorably  pursued  his  legal  studies,  acquir- 
ing thus  early  a  reputation  for  ability,  wit,  and  acuteness, 
which  he  carried  through  life,  in  the  many  high  stations 
which  he  occupied,  as  a  lawyer,  a  general,  member  of  Con- 
gress, Attorney  General,  and  President  of  New  Hampshire. 
These  qualities  pertained  to  the  three  sons,  John,  Ebenczer, 
and  James,  which  they  inherited  from  both  father  and 
mother,  who  were  natives  of  Ireland,  and  migrated  to  Maine 
in  1723.  The  fatlicr,  William  Sullivan,  was  a  highly  edu- 
cated man,  well  skilled  in  classical  literature,  and  a  teacher 
of  the  classics.  He  died  at  Berwick,  in  179G,  at  the  age  of 
one  hundred  and  live  years.  The  son,  John,  commenced 
practice  in  Newmarket,  New  Hampshire,  whence  he  soon 
moved  to  Durham,  where  he  died,  in  1795,  aged  lifty-four. 
He  often  visited  his  parents,  on  which  occasions  he  came 
from  Durham,  in  his  spacious  family  chariot,  with  two 
liorscs,  and  servants,  and  dressed  in  the  best  style  of  the 
times. 


I 


98  TIMOTHY   LANGDON  :    ROLAND    GUSHING. 

Two  other  lawyers  of  much  promise  commenced  practice 
in  Lincohi  before  the  Revolution  ;  but  whose  bright  words 
of  promise  were  broken  to  their  hopes. 
> 

Timothy  Langdon  and  Roland  Gushing  were  both  grad- 
uates of  Harvard,  one  in  17()5,  the  other  in  1768.  Langdon 
read  law  with  Mr.  Gridley  in  Boston,  and  was  connected 
with  some  of  the  first  families  in  Massachusetts  and  New 
Hampshire.  He  was  brother  of  Governor  John  Langdon, 
and  was  born  in  Portsmouth.  President  John  Adams,  in 
his  Diary,  under  date,  "  Falmouth,  July  term,  1771,"  says, 
"  dined  with  David  Wyer  in  company  with  his  father, 
Farnham,  Sewall,  Gushing,  Lowell,  &c.  Spent  the  evening 
with  the  bar  at  Shattuck's  (the  tavern)  in  high  spirits. 
Agreed  unanimously  to  recommend  Tim.  Langdon  to  be 
sworn.  All  in  good  spirits,  very  cheerful  and  chatty  ;  many 
good  stories.  This  day  argued  the  cause  of  Freeman  and 
Ghild,  a  suit  for  XIO  penalty,  for  taking  greater  fees  in  tlie 
custom  house  than  allowed  by  the  Province  law.  Freeman 
got  a  verdict,  and  I  was  congratulated." 

Langdon  commenced  practice  in  that  part  of  Pownalboro' 
whicli  is  now  Wiscasset ;  he  was  appointed  Grown  Lawyer 
Ijcfore  the  Revolution ;  represented  Pownalboro'  in  the 
Provincial  Gongress,  in  1776  ;  and  was  appointed  Admiralty 
Judge  for  Maine  by  the  Provisional  government  of  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1778.  Maine  was  constituted  by  the  Provincial 
Gongress  a  separate  Admiralty  District,  from  which  circum- 
stance it  was  ever  after  called,  "  The  District  of  Maine," 
until  its  organization  as  a  State. 

Langdon  was  able,  eloquent,  and  brilliant ;  but  in  a  few 
years,  he  became  very  dissipated,  and  was  s})oken  of  by 
those  wlio  knew  him,  as  the  shattered  remains  of  a  once 
sound  lawyer.  Losing  character  and  business  in  AViscasset, 
he  wandered  off  to  Norridgewock,  in  1793 ;   but  he  met 


ROLAND   GUSHING.  99 

with  no  better  success  there,  from  his  irregularities.  He 
then  tried  Farmington,  wlierc  he  remained  live  or  six  years, 
leading  a  vagrant  and  destitute  life,  —  occasionally  filling  a 
writ  or  piciiing  up  a  law  job  ;  and  finally  died,  in  1808,  in 
a  bar  room  at  Hinkley's  Plains,  in  Hallowell,  of  delirium 
tremens. 

Roland  Gushing  was  a  younger  brother  of  Judge  William 
and  Sheriff  Charles  Gushing.  He  was  born  in  Scituatc, 
Massachusetts,  in  1750,  and,  on  leaving  college,  in  1708,  he 
pursued  the  study  of  law  in  the  office  of  his  brother  William. 
He  possessed  rare  talents,  a  fine  education,  person,  and 
manners.  He  settled  first  at  Dresden,  then  at  Gardiner, 
from  which  he  moved  to  Waldoboro',  a  half-shire  town  of 
Lincoln  Gounty  from  1787  to  1809,  having  been  appointed 
Register  of  Probate.  Here  he  found  himself  in  the  midst 
of  a  German  population,  where  he  could  have  but  little 
business,  and  no  congenial  society.  His  talents  and  culti- 
vation were  wasted  for  want  of  the  necessary  stimulus  and 
opportunity  ;  and  he  fell  into  habits  of  intemperance,  which 
hurried  him  to  an  early  grave,  in  1788,  at  the  age  of  thirty- 
eight.     He  was  never  married. 

Mr.  Deane,  in  his  History  of  Scituate,  says  of  him,  "  He 
was  a  man  of  talents,  and  celebrated  for  his  beauty  and 
gracefulness."  It  is  said  that  he  would  argue  most  elo- 
quently when  he  could  hardly  stand  without  being  sup- 
ported. This  was  told  to  me  by  the  lion.  Thomas  Rice,  a 
native  of  Wiscasset,  who  added,  "  Tradition  a  few  years 
ago  was  filled  with  praises  of  his  beauty,  eloquence,  and  pop- 
ularity. In  force  and  l)rilliancy  he  exceeded  his  more  fortu- 
nate, because  more  wise  and  virtuous,  brothers,  William  and 
Charles."  He  was  jiot  spared  l)y  the  stern  retributions 
which  inevitably  and  inexorably  come  upon  all  who  live  in 
violation  of  the  fundamental  laws  of  our  being.  These 
two  brilliant  men, —  Langdon  and  Cushhig,  are  sad  examples 


100  JOSEPH   STOCKBRIDGE. 

of  the  utter  waste  of  moral  and  iiitcllcctual  power.  Our 
profession,  as  I  have  liad  it  deeply  impressed  upon  my 
observation  in  tlicse  inquiries,  furnishes  too  many  similar 
examples  of  premature  ruin  by  drunkenness. 

Joseph  Stockbridge.  I  believe  I  have  introduced  into 
these  desultory  sketches,  notices  of  all  the  lawyers  who 
practiced  in  Maine  prior  to  the  Revolution,  except  Joseph 
Stockl)ridgc,  who  died  in  Falmouth,  within  a  year  after  he 
commenced  practice  in  Cumberland  County.  He  was  son 
of  David  Stockbridge  of  Hanover,  Massachusetts  ;  graduated 
at  Harvard  College,  1755,  and  was  appointed  the  first  Reg- 
ister of  Probate  for  Cumberland  County.  He  ingratiated 
himself  in  public  favor  during  the  short  time  he  lived  in 
the  county,  and  died  much  lamented,  April  5,  1761,  in  the 
twenty-fourth  year  of  his  age.  The  following  notice  of  Mr. 
Stockbridge's  death,  appeared  in  the  Falmouth  paper,  April 
13,  1761 :  "  On  the  5tli  ins.  Mr.  Joseph  Stockbridge  died 
here,  to  the  great  grief  of  the  people  in  general ;  for  though 
he  had  lived  here  but  a  few  months,  his  civil,  religious,  and 
prudent  behavior  gained  him  the  esteem  of  all  that  knew 
him,  and  great  satisfaction  was  expected  from  his  knowledge 
and  capacity  in  the  offices  he  sustained  in  the  county." 


CHAPTER    IX 


SOCIAL    USAGES    OF    THE    BAR — FROTHINGHAM  —  TYLER' 
THACHER  —  LITHGO  W  —  BARRISTERS. 


The  social  usages  of  that,  and  a  more  recent  period, 
were  unfavorable  to  the  habits  of  lawyers.  Their  number 
was  small,  their  meetings  rare,  and  their  spirits  genial ;  and 
when  they  met  on  occasions  of  the  assembling  of  the  courts, 
it  was  natural  that  they  should  unbend,  and  relax  the  con- 
ventional habits  which  their  position  in  general  society 
required  them  to  maintain.  It  was  their  custom  while  on 
tlic  circuits  to  have  evening  gatherings,  at  which  the  favorite 
beverages  of  the  day,  flip  and  punch,  were  freely  circulated ; 
and  the  gay  sessions  were  often  protracted  through  the  long 
hours  of  the  night.  On  these  occasions,  they  frequently 
held  mock  courts,  in  which  one  of  their  number  was  ap- 
pointed judge,  and  trials  took  place  for  breaches  of  good 
fellowship,  or  some  imaginary  ollenscs.  On  one  of  these 
occasions,  in  York  County,  Mr.  Lowell,  afterwards  United 
States  Judge,  arrived  during  the  session  of  the  court  at 
Biddeford,  and  tying  his  horse  at  the  door  of  the  tavern, 
went  in  to  seek  lodgings  ;  but  the  landlord  being  unable  to 
accommodate  him,  he  was  obliged  to  obtain  other  quarters  ; 
and  inadvertently  left  his  horse  all  night  at  the  door  where 


102  SOCIAL   CUSTOMS   OF   THE   BAR. 

he  was  first  fastened.  This  was  considered  in  the  mock 
court  a  high  oifense,  for  which  he  was  called  to  answer  ; 
the  landlord  was  also  placed  on  trial  for  his  neglect  of  the 
horse.  David  Farnham  was  appointed  judge.  After  a  long 
hearing  and  argument,  the  landlord  was  lined  a  bowl  of 
good  punch  for  his  neglect,  and  Lowell  was  fined  twice  as 
much  for  suffering  the  poor  animal  to  remain  all  night  at 
the  door.  Tiio  sentence  was  carried  into  immediate  execu- 
tion. Mr.  Lowell,  born  in  Newbury,  in  1743,  became  a 
distinguished  judge  of  the  United  States  Court,  and  father 
of  the  no  less  distinguished  sons,  John,  Francis  C,  and 
Charles  Lowell.     He  died  in  1802. 

On  another  occasion,  Noah  Emery  was  accused  of  calling 
the  high  sheriff,  Leigh  ton,  a  fool.  For  this  weighty  offense 
he  was  brought  before  the  court,  and  the  allegation  being 
proved,  the  court,  taking  into  consideration  the  circum- 
stances of  the  offense,  ordered  Emery  to  pay  one  pipe  of 
tobacco;  and  the  sheriff  to  pay  one  mug-  of  flip  for  deserv- 
ing the  appellation.  Tlie  equity  of  this  admirable  institu- 
tion will  be  at  once  perceived  in  the  exact  justice  that  was 
measured  out  to  both  parties,  the  penalties  always  enuring 
to  the  benefit  of  the  company,  of  which  both  accuser  and 
accused  were  partakers. 

Meetings  of  members  of  the  bar  were  first  held  in  Boston, 
in  1750,  at  the  suggestion  of  John  Adams,  who  had  been 
recently  admitted  to  practice,  to  take  some  measures  against 
irregular  practitioners.  He  says,  in  his  Diary,  "  Many  of 
these  meetings  were  the  most  delightful  entertainments  I 
ever  enjoyed.  Tlie  spirit  that  reigned  was  that  of  solid 
sense,  generosity,  honor,  and  integrity  ;  and  the  conse- 
quences were  most  happy  ;  for  the  courts  and  the  bar, 
instead  of  scenes  of  wrangling,  chicanery,  quibbling,  and  ill 
manners,  were  soon  converted  to  order,  decency,  truth,  and 
candor.     Mr.  Pratt  was  so  delighted  with  these  meetings, 


LAWYERS   DURING   THE   REVOLUTION,  103 

and  their  effects,  that  when  we  all  waited  upon  him  to  Ded- 
liam  on  his  way  to  New  York  to  take  his  seat  as  chief 
justice  of  that  State,  he  said  to  us,  "  Brethren,  above  all 
things,  forsake  not  the  assembling  of  yourselves  together." 

At  the  time  of  the  Revolution  there  was  no  lawyer  in  our 
territory  north  or  east  of  Gardiner  ;  and  it  is  stated  in  the 
Diary  of  John  Adams,  that  of  the  eight  persons  actively 
engaged  at  the  bar  in  Boston,  in  1763,  Mr.  Adams  was  the 
only  one  who  was  found  there  at  the  close  of  the  Revolu- 
tion :  Thacher  died  in  1765,  Gridley  in  1767,  Otis  incapaci- 
tated in  1771,  and  died  1783  ;  Auchmuty,  Kent,  Sewall, 
and  two  others  adhered  to  Great  Britain. 

The  Revolution  swept  as  a  desolating  scourge  over  our 
land,  and  all  material  interests  were,  for  the  time,  pros- 
trated. It  was  no  longer  a  field  for  lawyers  to  till.  Wil- 
liam Gushing  in  Lincoln,  Sullivan  and  Sewall  in  York,  were 
appointed  judges  of  the  Superior  Court ;  in  Cumberland, 
Wyer  died  in  1776,  and  Bradbury  and  Parsons  fled  from 
the  smoldering  ruins  of  ill-fated  Falmouth ;  Roland  Gush- 
ing and  Langdon,  in  Lincoln,  only  remained  to  sustain  the 
falling  pillars  of  the  law.  Sullivan  left  Maine,  in  1778, 
as  a  judge  of  the  Superior  Gourt,  having  since  1775  acted 
in  a  military  capacity. 

John  Frothing  ham.  The  field  did  not  long  lie  fallow  : 
it  must  indeed  be  ))arren  which  would  discourage  a  lawyer 
from  entering  it.  The  first  who  had  the  courage  to  adven- 
ture upon  this  apparently  forlorn  hope,  was  John  Frothing- 
ham,  who  came  to  Falmouth  in  1773,  or  '74,  as  Bradbury, 
Wyer,  and  Parsons  did  l)efore  him,  as  a  scliool-master.  lie 
descended  from  William  Frothingham,  one  of  the  first 
settlers  of  Gharlcstown,  Massachusetts,  through  liis  sixth 
son  Samuel,  the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  this  notice. 
His  father  was  Deacon  John  Frothingham.     He  was  boru 


104  JOHN   FROTHINGHAM  :    COURT  ENTRIES. 

ill  Charlestown,  in  1750,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College, 
in  1771.  While  pursuing  liis  avocation  as  a  teacher,  he 
read  law  with  Mr.  Bradbury,  and  was  a  fellow-student  with 
Parsons.  lie  was  admitted  to  practice  at  the  Cumberland 
Bar,  in  March,  1771) ;  but  did  not  abandon  his  vocation  as 
teacher,  which  he  must  have  found  more  profitable  than 
the  bar. 

Mr.  Frothingham  spent  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  Port- 
land. In  1780,  he  was  appointed  County  Attorney  ;  was 
collector  of  the  excise  for  Maine  ;  one  of  the  trustees  of 
Bowdoin  College  twenty-four  years,  and  its  secretary  ;  a 
representative  to  the  General  Court,  178(3;  thirty-four  years 
clerk  of  the  First  Parish  ;  twelve  years  Register  of  Probate ; 
and  eight  years  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  until 
its  reorganization  in  1811.  He  was  a  faithful,  upright, 
intelligent,  and  honest  man  ;  and  closed  his  long  career  of 
usefulness,  in  1826.  He  left  several  children  by  his  wife, 
Martha  May,  sister  of  the  late  Colonel  Joseph  May,  and  of 
the  venerable  Samuel  May  of  Boston ;  three  of  whom  sur- 
vive, —  John,  a  respected  merchant  in  Montreal ;  Lucretia, 
the  widow  of  Franklin  Tinkham  ;  and  Abigail,  the  wife  of 
the  distinguished  Dr.  Ray,  of  the  Butler  Asylum  in  Provi- 
dence, Rhode  Island. 

The  business  of  the  profession  in  that  county  may  be 
inferred  from  the  number  of  entries  upon  the  docket  during 
the  dark  days  of  the  Revolution  :  in  1778,  they  were  eight- 
een ;  1779,  twenty-six ;  1780,  twenty  ;  and  the  whole  num- 
ber for  the  seven  years  of  the  war,  to  1783,  was  but  one 
hundred  and  ninety-eight.  The  population  of  the  county 
was,  in  1780,  then  including  a  part  of  Oxford,  but  about 
fourteen  thousand ;  and  of  the  State,  about  forty-three 
thousand. 


ROYAL   TYLER  :    WILLIAM    LITHGOW,  JR.  105 

Royal  Tyler  came  to  Falmouth  the  same  year  that  Mr. 
Frothinghara  was  admitted  to  the  practice,  1779.  He  was 
born  in  Boston,  his  father  having  been  of  the  King's  Coun- 
cil ;  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  in  the  class  of  1776.  He 
was  a  fine  scholar  and  an  accomplished  man.  He  continued 
but  about  two  years  in  our  State,  when  he  moved  to  Ver- 
mont, and  became  a  distinguished  lawyer,  and  the  chief 
justice  of  the  Superior  Court  of  that  State.  In  1809  and 
1810  he  published  two  volumes  of  reports  of  the  decisions 
of  her  highest  tribunal.  An  incident  occurred  during  his 
practice  in  Cumberland,  which  was  not  a  little  annoying  to 
him.  He  commenced  an  action  against  an  officer  of  a  pri- 
vateer then  lying  in  the  harbor,  and  went  on  board  with  the 
sheriff  to  have  the  writ  served.  But  the  privateersman,  not 
liking  the  process,  took  up  his  anchor  and  sailed  out  of  the 
precinct,  carrying  the  attorney  and  his  officer  with  him, 
whom  he  landed  safely  at  Boothbay,  and  kept  on  his  cruise ; 
acting  upon  the  classical  dictum, —  irite?'  arma,  leges  silent. 

Mr.  Tyler  died  in  August,  1826,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six. 
He  had  been  judge  twelve  years,  of  which  six  were  as  chief 
j'ustice.  He  published,  besides  the  two  volumes  of  reports, 
several  poems  and  comedies.  He  was  a  man  of  elegant 
manners,  fine  literary  taste,  and  a  learned  judge. 

"William  Lithgow,  Jr.,  son  of  Judge  William  Lithgow 
of  Georgetown,  commenced  practice  during  the  Revolution. 
He  was  not  educated  at  college,  but  read  law  with  Mr.  Sul- 
livan at  Biddcford.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  war,  he 
entered  the  military  service  ;  was  an  officer  in  the  army 
which  ca})turcd  Burgoyne,  and  served  with  credit  during 
the  war,  in  wliich  he  had  his  arm  shattered,  and  retired 
with  the  rank  of  major.  He  returned  to  his  profession, 
after  these  stirring  scenes  were  over,  and  established  himself 


106  WILLIAM   LITHGOW,  JR. :    GEORGE   THACHER. 

at  Augusta,  having  his  oflice  in  the  only  plastered  room  of 
the  block-house  of  Fort  Weston,  which  had  been  used  as  a 
defense  against  the  Indians.  He  is  said  to  have  been  an 
able  advocate,  and  a  lawyer  of  much  ability  and  extensive 
practice.  He  was  appointed,  in  1789,  the  first  United  States 
Attorney  for  Maine,  and  was  twice  elected  a  senator  to  the 
legislature  of  Massachusetts,  and  a  major-general  in  the 
militia.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  personal  appearance,  of 
military  bearing,  and  accomplished  manners.  He  died  in 
February,  1796,  at  the  age  of  forty-six,  never  having  been 
married.  The  father  of  General  Lithgow  came  from  Scot- 
land in  early  life,  with  his  father,  and  settled  in  Georgetown 
on  the  Kennebec.  Before  the  Revolution,  he  had  command 
by  turns  of  the  three  forts  at  Richmond,  Augusta,  and 
Winslow  ;  and  was  employed  by  the  government  in  its  inter- 
course with  the  Indians.  After  the  Revolution,  he  was 
many  years  a  magistrate  and  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas.  He  was  a  man  of  good  sense,  fine  manners,  a  genial 
temper,  and  great  hospitality.  He  died  December  20, 1798, 
aged  eighty-six  years.  He  married  a  daughter  of  Colonel 
James  Noble,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons  and  six  daughters  : 
three  of  the  daughters  married  Samuel  Howard  of  Augusta, 
Rev.  John  Murray  of  Boothbay,  and  ]\[ajor  James  Davidson 
of  Bath  ;  the  other  three  died  single  ;  one  of  them,  Jane,  a 
handsome  and  accomplished  woman,  was  engaged  to  Roland 
Gushing,  but  died  suddenly  before  marriage.  His  sons 
were  James,  Arthur,  Robert,  and  William.  Arthur  was 
several  years  sheriff  of  Kennebec  ;  he  married  a  daughter 
of  Sheriff  Bridge.  James  married  the  only  daughter  of 
John  Gardiner,  the  barrister,  of  Dresden,  and  had  two  sons, 
and  a  daughter  who  married  Colonel  E.  Williams. 

George  Thaciier.     Wc  have  the  name  of  but  one  more 
who,  during  tlie  existence  of  the  war,  adventured  into  the 


GEORGE    THACHER.  107 

State  as  a  practitioner  :  that  was  George  Thacher  of  Bidde- 
ford.  He  too  had  been  a  school-master,  after  taking  his 
degree  at  Harvard,  in  1776 ;  and  this  seems  to  have  been 
the  common  path  from  the  college  to  the  bar ;  for  generally 
the  young  men  of  that  day  who  had  persevered  in  obtaining 
an  education,  had  exhausted  their  means,  and  came  out 
into  the  world  embarrassed  by  debt,  and  had  to  struggle 
long  to  free  themselves  from  those  iron  fetters.  While  keep- 
ing school,  they  could  be  acquiring  means  of  subsistence, 
and  the  payment  of  their  debts,  and  at  the  same  time  be 
preparing  for  the  professions  to  which  they  were  looking  for 
future  support  and  advancement  in  life, 

Mr.  Thacher  was  descended  from  Anthony,  the  common 
ancestor,  who  came  to  tliis  country  in  1633  ;  was  of  the 
fourth  degree  from  him,  and  was  born  in  Yarmouth,  Cape 
Cod,  April  12,  1754.  His  father  was  Peter  Thacher,  and 
his  mother  a  daughter  of  George  Lewis  of  Barnstable.  He 
studied  his  profession  with  Shearjashub  Bourne  of  Barn- 
stable, and  commenced  practice  in  York,  in  1780  or  '81  ;  in 
1782  he  moved  to  Biddeford,  where  the  principal  part  of 
his  life  was  spent,  succeeding  James  Sullivan  in  the  prac- 
tice at  that  place.  In  1788,  Mr.  Thacher  was  elected  a 
member  of  tlie  old  Congress.  On  the  adoption  of  the  con- 
stitution of  the  United  States,  Maine  constituted  one  district, 
and  he  was  elected  the  first  representative  from  Maine  in 
the  new  congress.  He  held  the  office  by  successive  elec- 
tions, until  1801,  wlien,  on  being  appointed  a  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts,  he  resigned  his  seat.  He 
was  the  only  representative  from  ]\raine  until  1793,  when  it 
became  entitled  to  three  representatives,  and  Peleg  Wads- 
worth  of  Portland,  and  Henry  Dearborn  of  Gardiner,  were 
chosen  as  his  colleagues.  Wbile  in  Congress,  Judge  Tliacher 
took  an  active  part  in   the  important  debates  of  the  time, 


108  GEOKGE   THACHER. 

and  his  speeches  contain  useful  information  and  sound  argu- 
ment, seasoned  by  genuine  "  Attic  salt." 

He  continued  upon  the  bench  until  January,  1824,  and 
died  in  April  of  the  same  year.  Judge  Thacher  was  a  sound 
and  acute  lawyer,  and  a  good  general  scholar.  He  carried 
to  the  bench  a  mind  well  stored  with  legal  principles,  and  a 
memory  always  ready  to  furnish,  from  its  ample  stores, 
authority  of  unreported  cases,  and  illustration  from  general 
literature.  His  integrity  and  impartiality  were  never- ques- 
tioned ;  but  his  manner  was  not  agreeable  upon  the  bench, 
for  he  was  constantly  interrupting  the  lawyers  and  arguing 
points  with  them,  and  was  sometimes  fretful  and  impatient. 
Yet  he  was  a  man,  in  private  life,  of  a  genial  temper  and 
agreeable  social  habits  ;  had  fine  conversational  powers,  and 
was  full  of  anecdotes,  which  he  had  a  happy  manner  of 
relating.  He  had  infinite  humor,  and  his  wit  often  created 
merriment  at  the  bar,  as  well  as  in  his  social  intercourse. 
I  recollect  being  in  court  when  Judge  Thacher  interrupted 
a  lawyer  who  was  earnestly  pressing  a  point,  —  "  You  need 
not  argue  that  point,  sir,  for  to  my  mind  it  has  no  more 
weight  than  the  lightest  feather  upon  a  bumble-bee's  wing." 
The  anecdote  of  the  challenge  sent  to  him  while  in  Congress 
is  familiar.  A  member  had  offered  a  proposition  that  the 
coin  to  be  issued  from  the  mint  should  bear  the  figure  of  an 
eagle.  Mr.  Thacher,  by  way  of  banter,  offered  an  amendment, 
that  the  effigy  should  be  a  goose,  for  the  old  bird,  said  he, 
could  be  represented  upon  the  large  pieces,  while  the  goslings 
would  be  suitable  for  the  small  ones.  This  he  sustained  in  a 
humorous  speech,  which  kept  the  house  in  a  merry  mood  ; 
he  alluded  to  the  fact  that  Rome  had  once  been  saved  from 
the  barbarians  by  the  cackling  of  geese.  The  mover  of  the 
bill,  assuming  that  this  was  an  attempt  to  insult  him,  sent  a 
challenge.     Mr.  Thacher  told  the  bearer,  that  he  had  no 


GEORGE   THACHER.  10|9 

rifflit  to  hazard  liis  life  on  such  a  chance,  but  would  write 
to  his  wife,  and  if  she  consented,  he  would  accept  the  chal- 
lenge ;  but,  as  a  compromise,  he  proposed  that  his  figure 
might  be  marked  on  a  barn  door,  and  if  the  challenger, 
standing  at  the  proper  distance,  hit  it,  he  would  acknowledge 
himself  shot.  The  gentleman's  friends,  finding  that  they 
could  do  nothing  with  Mr.  T.,  abandoned  the  matter. 

An  anecdote  to  which  Mr.  Thacher,  when  at  the  bar,  was 
a  party,  is  told  by  an  old  lawyer.  He  was  managing  a 
cause  against  the  Attorney  General,  in  which  the  counsel 
were  considerably  excited :  the  Attorney  General  said  to 
Mr.  Thacher,  "  You  are  no  gentleman."  Thacher  rose  and 
said,  "  Well,  now,  I  admit,  Mr.  Attorney,  that  I  am  no  gen- 
tleman,—  I  am  no  gentleman."  The  venerable  Judge 
Strong,  who  was  holding  the  court,  interrupted,  and  with 
his  peculiar  arch  manner,  said,  "  Well,  gentlemen,  I  think 
you  need  not  go  to  the  jury  about  that." 

Judge  Thacher  had  a  peculiar  way  of  charging  the  jury. 
He  would  dissect  and  analyze  the  case,  and  so  mix  up  the 
facts  that  the  jury  were  perplexed  to  know  the  views  of  the 
court  upon  them.  Mr.  Orr  once  characterized  this  pecu- 
liarity by  this  graphic  description, — he  said,  "Thacher 
would  take  his  fish,  and  make  it  into  a  chowder,  and  then 
turn  the  chowder  back  again  into  a  fish." 

July  20,  1784,  Judge  Thacher  married  Mary  Savage,  a 
daughter  of  Samuel  Pliillips  Savage  of  Weston,  Massachu- 
setts, by  whom  he  had  five  sons  and  five  daughters,  all  of 
whom,  but  one  daughter,  survived  their  father.  Of  the 
sons,  George  and  Samuel  Phillips  Savage  were  educated  for 
the  bar,  and  after  many  years'  practice,  are  both  dead.  One 
of  his  daughters  married  Joseph  Adams,  a  late  respected 
member  of  the  Cumberland  Bar.  In  his  domestic  relations, 
Judge  Thacher  was  a  most  kind  and  indulgent  husband  and 


4 

110  GEORGE  THACHER. 

father,  and  his  dwelling  was  the  abode  of  peaceful  enjoy- 
ment, and  a  large  though  frugal  hospitality  ;  of  which  the 
humble  as  well  as  the  noblest  in  the  land  have  been  partak- 
ers. The  President  of  the  United  States,  and  his  classmate, 
Governor  Gore,  have  been  his  guests,  as  they  passed  through 
our  State.  His  invitation  to  Governor  Gore  was  by  the 
familiar  address  by  which  his  classmates  knew  him  in  col- 
lege,—"  Kitty  Gore." 


CHAPTER    X 


FIRST   LAWYERS  AFTER  THE    REVOLUTION  —  DAVIS  —  GARDINER 

— BARRISTERS — WETMORE — RAPID  PROGRESS  OF  MAINE  IN 

BUSINESS  AND  POPULATION — EBENEZER  SULLIVAN. 


We  have  passed  in  review  the  members  of  the  profession, 
who  before  and  during  the  Revolution,  upheld  the  feeble 
arms  of  the  law  in  Maine.  They  have  faded  from  the 
knowledge  and  the  memory  of  those  who  are  filling  their 
places,  and  deriving  benefit  from  their  labors.  They  assisted 
to  bring  order  and  system  into  our  jurisprudence ;  to  adapt 
it  to  the  altered  circumstances  of  our  country,  and  the  free 
institutions  which  had  been  established  upon  the  ruins  of 
colonial  dependency.  Others  have  labored,  and  we  have 
entered  into  their  labors. 

We  now  propose  to  speak  of  the  lawyers  who,  during  the 
closing  twenty  years  of  the  last  century,  exercised  a  com- 
manding influence  upon  the  social  institutions  and  the 
political  and  legal  systems  of  our  State. 

DANIEL     DAVIS.      1782—1804, 

The  first  lawyer  who  came  into  Maine  on  the  close  of  the 
Revolution,  was  Daniel  Davis,  who  was  son  of  Daniel  Davis, 


112  DANIEL   DAVIS. 

a  respectable  farmer,  and  born  in  Barnstable,  Cape  Cod, 
May  8,  1762,  The  early  part  of  his  life  was  spent  on  his 
father's  farm.  But  having  an  earnest  desire  for  an  educa- 
tion, his  father  made  efforts  and  sacrifices  to  accomplish  this 
object.  After  a  very  crude  preparation,  he  offered  himself 
for  admission  at  Harvard  College,  and  was  rejected.  This, 
though  it  disconcerted  him,  did  not  extinguish  his  desire 
for  a  profession  ;  and,  abandoning  a  college  course,  he  was 
placed  with  an  attorney  at  Barnstable  for  his  legal  training. 
In  three  years  from  that  time  he  was  admitted  to  the  Barn- 
stable Bar,  before  he  was  twenty-one  years  old.  Mr.  Davis 
studied  his  profession  in  the  office  of  Shearjashub  Bourne 
of  Barnstable,  who  took  great  pride  in  this  student,  after  he 
rose  to  distinction,  and  was  wont  to  say,  when  recurring  to 
his  success  in  after  life,  "  I  took  special  pains  ivith  Daniel^ 
Judges  Thacher  and  Mellen  of  Maine,  and  Hall  of  Vermont, 
were  also  students  in  Mr.  Bourne's  office. 

The  perplexing  inquiry  now  came  what  he  should  do  with 
himself.  He  was  not  long  in  making  his  decision  ;  full  of 
confidence  and  hope,  he  mounted  his  horse,  witli  all  his 
worldly  gear  upon  his  back,  and  turning  his  head  toward  the 
rising  sun,  he  found  himself  on  a  pleasant  autumn  day  of 
1782,  in  the  village  of  Falmouth,  now  Portland.  He  was 
light  of  purse,  as  he  was  light  of  heart,  having  only  a  pis- 
tareen  in  his  pocket.  But  he  had  a  ready  wit,  a  handsome 
person,  and  engaging  manners.  An  introductory  letter  to 
Dr.  Deane,  the  minister  of  the  only  parish  in  the  village, 
put  him  on  a  good  footing,  and  he  speedily  commenced  a 
most  successful  career.  The  only  other  lawyer  in  the  town 
or  county  was  Mr.  Frothingham,  and  there  were  but  four 
others  in  the  whole  State ;  viz.,  Mr.  Thacher  in  York ;  Roland 
Cushing, Timothy  Langdon,aud  William  Lithgowin  Lincoln. 
In  a  letter  written  in  1828,  he  thus  speaks  of  Maine,  "  Wiien 
1  went  into  that  country,  in  every  part  of  which  I  have  dis- 


DANIEL   DAVIS.  118 

charged  my  professional  duties,  the  face  of  it,  the  habits 
and  manners  of  the  people,  and  those  circumstances  which 
are  peculiar  to  a  new  country,  where  all  the  institutions  of 
society  were  disregarded  and  neglected,  would  form  a  picture, 
that  would  astonish  the  present  generation."  Again,  he  says, 
"  As  a  specimen  of  the  change  since  my  time,  I  recollect  that 
when  I  went  to  Falmouth,  there  was  no  settled  minister  of 
the  Gospel  between  that  town  and  the  British  territories, 
except  in  North  Yarmouth,  New  Gloucester,  Wiscasset,  and 
1  believe  one  in  Townsend.  I  was  going  to  say,  the  sheep 
were  without  shepherds,  —  but  then  there  were  no  sheep, 
but  plenty  of  wolves  all  over  the  country."  *  *  "I  am 
the  only  survivor  of  tlic  Maine  bar  who  lived  in  that  State 
at  the  time  I  went  into  it,"  —  this  was  in  1828.  The  sar- 
casm contained  in  the  above  remark  must  be  set  down  to 
the  wit  of  Mr.  Davis,  and  not  taken  for  sober  truth. 

Mr.  Davis  was  an  able  advocate,  and  of  easy  and  pleasant 
address.  As  a  consequence,  his  business  and  reputation 
rapidly  increased.  He  was  no  student,  and  not  a  profound 
lawyer  ;  but  he  had  the  faculty  of  showing  all  he  had,  and 
of  seizing  upon  the  points  of  a  cause  with  facility  and  tact : 
he  gathered  up  materials  in  the  progress  of  the  trial  to  con- 
struct an  argument,  which  he  had  the  happy  talent  to 
present  to  the  jury  in  a  most  attractive  form.  By  his  readi- 
ness on  all  occasions,  and  his  address,  he  became  very  popu- 
lar through  the  county.  In  1792,  he  was  one  of  the 
candidates  for  Congress,  at  the  first  election,  for  Cumberland 
District ;  and  received  in  Portland  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
four  votes,  to  thirty-seven  given  for  General  Wadsworth  ; 
the  General,  however,  run  better  in  the  country,  and  obtained 
the  position,  which  he  held,  by  successive  elections,  until 
1806.  Mr.  Davis  was  representative  to  tlie  General  Court 
six  years,  and  six  years  a  member  of  the  senate  of  Massa- 
chusetts from  Cumberland.     In  the  legislature,  he  was   a 


114  DANIEL   DAVIS. 

distinguished  debater,  and  ranked  with  the  eloquent  Harri- 
son Gray  Otis.  In  1796,  he  was  appointed  United  States 
Attorney  for  Maine,  as  successor  to  William  Lithgow,  and 
held  the  office  until  removed  by  Mr.  Jefferson,  in  1801. 
Silas  Lee  succeeded  him.  In  1800,  while  holding  the  above 
office,  he  was  appointed  Solicitor  General  of  the  Common- 
wealth, by  Governor  Strong ;  an  office  created  especially  for 
him,  as,  in  1767,  it  had  been  for  Jonathan  Sewall.  This 
position  he  held  until  1832,  when,  from  age  and  infirmity, 
being  no  longer  able  to  perform  the  responsible  duties  of  a 
criminal  lawyer,  the  law  establishing  the  office  Avas  repealed. 
It  is  but  just  to  say,  that  he  discharged  all  its  duties  with 
great  ability  and  fidelity,  for  which  he  seemed  to  have  a 
peculiar  aptitude.  In  1800,  he  was  chosen  President  of  the 
Board  of  Overseers  of  Bowdoin  College,  which  he  held  five 
years.  In  1804,  finding  that  his  services  as  Solicitor  Gen- 
eral required  his  presence  more  frequently  in  Massachusetts 
than  in  Maine,  he  moved  to  Boston,  where  he  resided  while 
he  continued  in  office.  On  its  being  taken  from  him,  he 
retired  from  practice,  and  removed  to  Cambridge,  where  he 
died  October  27, 1835.  He  published  two  works  on  criminal 
law,  which  are  esteemed  by  the  profession  ;  one  called,  "  Da- 
vis's Justice  ;"  the  other,  "  Precedents  of  Indictments."  Of 
the  former  work,  a  writer  in  the  Law  Reporter,  volume  x., 
page  232,  says,  "  The  work  of  the  late  Mr.  Solicitor  Davis 
took  at  once  the  high  rank  which  it  long  sustained  among 
the  safe  and  useful  law  books  for  the  many.  Its  author 
was  one  of  the  best  prosecuting  officers  that  ever  practiced 
in  Massachusetts,  and  neatness  and  accuracy  characterized 
all  his  literary  and  professional  efforts." 

In  1786,  he  made  a  long  and  perilous  journey  to  Quebec 
to  consummate  a  matrimonial  engagement  previously  formed 
with  Miss  Louisa  Freeman  of  his  native  town,  a  sister  of  Dr. 
James  Freeman,  I).  D.,  of  King's  Chapel,  Boston.     A  nar- 


DANIEL    DAVIS.  115 

rative  of  tliis  long  journey  through  the  unbroken  wilderness 
and  forest,  which  then  spread  between  the  Atlantic  and  the 
lower  St.  Lawrence,  would  embellish  the  pages  of  a  tale 
with  romantic  interest.  By  this  charming  and  accomplished 
lady  he  had  a  family  of  talented  and  amiable  children.  His 
eldest  daughter  married  William  Minot  of  Boston ;  and 
his  only  surviving  son  is  the  distinguished  Charles  H.  Davis, 
of  the  United  States  Navy,  and  of  the  Coast  Survey,  who 
has  made  himself  illustrious  by  his  skill  and  valor  in  feats 
of  arms  during  the  rebellion,  as  well  as  by  his  scientific 
attainments  and  works. 

I  am  able  to  add  from  one  of  the  early  cotemporaries  of 
Mr.  Davis,  not  at  all  given  to  laudation,  the  following  char- 
acteristics of  him :  "  He  was  eloquent  and  graceful,  and  a 
charming  companion  ;  he  was  not  a  student,  nor  a  book 
lawyer,  but  was  quick  in  his  perceptions,  and  argued  his 
cases  well." 

Mr.  Davis  was  in  the  habit  of  quoting  Scripture  in  his 
addresses  to  the  jury,  and  did  not  always  remember  accu- 
rately. In  the  trial  of  Jacob  Cochran,  in  Cumberland,  for 
lewdness,  a  predecessor  of  the  Mormons  in  his  doctrines, 
against  whom  there  was  considerable  prejudice  in  the  com- 
munity, he  quoted  the  passage,  "  Put  off  thy  shoes,"  <tc., 
in  order  to  disarm  this  prejudice,  citing  the  passage  as 
spoken  of  the  Hebrew  prophet,  instead  of  to  him.  On 
another  occasion,  he  was  counsel  in  the  Supreme  Court,  in 
York  County,  in  an  action  by  the  mother  of  a  boy  against  a 
school-master,  for  an  excessive  flogging  of  her  son  in  school. 
Bradbury,  one  of  the  judges,  suggested  that  there  should 
be  more  proof  of  the  offense  of  the  boy.  To  which  Mellon, 
for  the  defendant,  replied,  that  if  a  school-master  was 
obliged  to  hunt  up  evidence  among  his  pupils  to  justify  his 
manner  of  governing  his  school,  he  would  be  placed  in  a 


116  DANIEL   DAVIS. 

more  difficult  position  than  any  officer  of  government. 
Pavis  answered,  —  "  Brother  jMellen  was  probably  educated 
'  in  the  school  of  one  Tyrannus,'  "  "  Well,"  says  Judge 
Paine,  "  he  was  a  good  master,  wan't  he  ?  " 

Harrison  Gray  Otis,  at  a  meeting  of  the  Cape  Cod  Asso- 
ciation, in  Boston,  1830,  in  his  usual  pleasant  manner,  thus 
alluded  to  Mr.  Davis,  —  "  I  also  formed  the  acquaintance  of 
the  then  future  Solicitor  General  of  the  State ;  he  was 
somewhat  my  senior,  and  assumed  some  little  pretensions 
over  his  school-mates  in  consequence  of  having  been  chief 
volunteer  fifer  to  the  Barnstable  minute  men  :  in  the  rudi- 
ments of  which  art  as  well  as  of  agriculture,  he  was 
instructed  by  a  Patagonian  sybil,  named  Phillis,  his  fath- 
er's servant,  who  taught  him  alternately  to  play  the  fife  and 
plough  potatoes." 

Mr.  Minot  has  furnished  me  a  further  illustration  of  this 
anecdote.  He  says,  Mr.  Davis  and  George  Thacher,  the 
late  judge,  when  boys  were  neighbors  in  Barnstable.  The 
day  after  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  the  militia  company  of 
that  town  set  off  for  Boston,  The  boys  accompanied  the 
soldiers,  —  Davis  acting  as  fifer.  A  few  miles  out  of  Barn- 
stable, an  order  came  directing  the  company  to  return  home. 
In  their  "retreat,  Thacher  and  Davis,  tired  of  their  march, 
mounted  an  old  horse  they  met  in  the  road,  without  saddle 
or  bridle.  After  riding  some  miles,  they  dismounted,  and 
abandoned  their  steed  in  the  highway.  Many  years  after, 
Davis,  as  Solicitor  General,  was  prosecuting  a  horse  thief, 
before  Thacher  as  judge,  in  the  county  of  Kennebec.  In 
the  course  of  the  trial,  the  judge  leaned  over  the  bench, 
and  said,  in  an  undertone,  to  the  solicitor,  "  Davy,  this 
reminds  me  of  the  horse  you  and  I  stole  together  in  Barn- 
stable." 


JOHN   GARDINER.  117 

JOHN     GARDINER.      178G  — 1793. 

The  next  lawyer  who  came  into  Maine  was  John  Gardi- 
ner, who  established  himself  in  Pownalboro',  in  1786.  He 
was  son  of  Dr.  Sylvester  Gardiner,  and  was  born  in  Boston, 
about  the  year  1731.  He  received  his  education  in  Eng- 
land ;  and  at  the  Inner  Temple  he  had  the  benefit  of  the 
legal  instruction  of  the  distinguished  Sir  Charles  Pratt, 
afterwards  the  Lord  Chancellor,  Camden.  Admitted  to  the 
bar  of  the  King's  Bench,  and  the  courts  at  Westminster 
Hall,  he  practiced  before  Lord  Mansfield,  and  acquired  a 
brilliant  reputation.  He  was  appointed  Attorney  General 
of  the  Island  of  St.  Christopher,  and  practiced  there,  and  at 
another  island,  until  the  conclusion  of  the  Revolutionary 
War.  In  1784,  he  returned  to  this  country,  where  he  and 
his  family  were  recognized  as  citizens  of  Massachusetts,  by 
a  special  law  of  the  Commonwealth.  This  act  was  passed 
February  13,  1784,  and  is  so  honorable  to  his  character 
that  I  quote  from  it : 

"  An  Act  declaring  and  confirming  the  citizenship  of  John 
Gardiner,  Esq.,  Barrister  at  Law,  Margaret  Gardiner  his 
wife,  and  of  Ann,  John  Sylvester  John,  and  AVm.  Gardi- 
ner, their  children. 

"  Whereas  the  said  John  Gardiner  was  born  in  Boston, 
the  metropolis  of  this  Commonwealth,  and  while  a  minor, 
was,  by  his  father,  sent  to  Great  Britain  for  his  education, 
where  for  a  succession  of  years  he  remained  a  distinguished 
friend  to,  and  through  a  vicissitude  of  fortune,  hath  contin- 
ued an  avowed  and  inflexible  asscrtor  of  the  rights  and 
liberties  of  his  native  country,  and  a  bold  opposer  of  the 
enemies  thereof ;  and  having  lately  returned  to  reside  in 
the  said  metropolis,  and  soon  expecting  his  said  wife  and 
children,  he  and  they  ought  to  be  declared  free  citizens  of 
the  said  Commonwealth." 


i 


118  JOHN   GARDINER. 

He  continued  two  years  in  Boston,  when  he  moved  into 
Maine,  and  occasionally  appeared  as  counsel  in  the  Supreme 
Court,  where  he  invariably  attracted  attention  from  his 
copious  learning,  his  polished  manners,  and  his  attractive 
elocution.  He  used  to  appear  on  such  occasions  in  his  bar- 
rister's gown.  He  was  the  most  learned  and  cultivated 
lawyer  in  Maine ;  and  no  one  at  the  bar  of  Massachusetts 
excelled  him  as  a  general  scholar,  or  in  the  variety  of  his 
information.  In  1789,  he  was  elected  a  representative  from 
Pownalboro'  to  the  legislature  of  Massachusetts,  and  was 
successively  re-elected  until  his  death  in  1793.  Here  he 
took  a  very  conspicuous  part  in  proposing  improvements  in 
the  legal  system  of  the  State,  and  advocated  his  measures 
with  great  earnestness  and  ability. 

In  January,  1790,  he  introduced  a  resolution,  that  the 
House  would  resolve  itself  into  a  committee  of  the  whole, 
to  take  into  consideration  "  the  present  state  of  the  law  and 
its  professors  in  the  Commonwealth."  He  prefaced  his  res- 
olution by  spirited  remarks  against  lawyers  and  abuses  of 
the  law.  He  objected  to  associations  of  members  of  the 
bar,  and  the  formation  of  bar  rules  ;  the  mode  of  taxing 
cost,  and  other  practices,  which  he  termed  illegal  and 
unwarrantable  usurpations.  He  thought  the  law  ought  to 
be  simplified ;  and  that  many  customs  which  had  crept  in 
from  the  English  system,  should  be  eradicated.  Most  of 
the  bills  which  he  introduced  were  rejected  by  large  major- 
ities ;  the  one  to  abolisli  special  pleading  was  debated  with 
great  earnestness. 

From  these  circumstances  he  was  called  the  "  Law  Re- 
former," and  was  evidently  in  advance  of  his  age.  The 
measure  proposed  by  him,  and  urged  ably  and  elo(iuently, 
to  abolish  special  pleading',  and  to  simplify  the  practice  in 
the  courts,  was  opposed,  with  zeal  equal  to  his  own,  by 
Parsons  and  other  lawyers,  who  feared  to  touch  the  old  and 


JOHN   GARDINER.  119 

time-honored  forms,  lest  the  whole  fabric  should  fall  into 
confusion.  Forty  years  after,  this  measure  was  adopted,  to 
general  acceptance  in  Massachusetts  and  Maine.  He  aided 
effectually  in  abolishing  the  law  by  which  the  oldest  son 
inherited  a  double  portion  of  his  parent's  estate  ;  and  an- 
other to  abolish  the  clumsy  process  of  common  recovery,  so 
that  a  tenant  in  tail  could  by  deed  dock  the  entailment.  He 
was  a  prominent  actor  and  debater  on  all  subjects  of  interest 
which  came  before  the  legislature,  and  displayed  copious  re- 
sources of  knowledge  and  illustration.  In  the  midst  of  this 
activity  he  suddenly  perished,  at  the  age  of  sixty-three,  on 
a  voyage  from  tlie  Kennebec  to  Boston  to  take  his  seat  in  the 
General  Court. 

Mr.  Gardiner,  before  he  left  England,  practiced  for  a  time 
at  Haverford  West,  in  Wales,  where  he  married  a  Welsh 
lady,  Margaret  Harris,  by  whom  he  left  three  children.  His 
daughter  Ann  married  James  Noble  Lithgow,  son  of  Judge 
William  Lithgow  of  Georgetown  :  they  had  two  sons  and 
one  daughter.  The  daughter,  Louisa,  married  Colonel  Ed- 
ward Williams  of  Augusta,  and  died  in  1824,  aged  twenty- 
six.  The  sons,  Alfred  G.  and  Llewellen  Lithgow,  are  now 
living,  but  without  issue.  His  son,  the  Rev.  John  Sylvester 
John  Gardiner,  long  rector  of  Trinity  Church  in  Boston, 
who  was  also  educated  in  England,  was  distinguished  for 
classical  learning  and  high  culture.  A  daughter  of  his  mar- 
ried John  P.  Cushing,  Esq.,  of  Wat,prtown,  lately  deceased ; 
his  son  William,  a  lawyer  in  Boston,  married  a  daughter  of 
Thomas  H.  Perkins,  and  inherits  the  genius  of  his  family. 

Since  writing  the  above,  I  have  been  favored  with  an  in- 
teresting sketch  of  this  extraordinary  man,  from  his  nephew, 
the  Hon.  Mr.  Gardiner  of  Gardiner,  which  I  could  not  for- 
give myself,  and  my  readers  would  not  forgive  me,  if  I  did 
nut  present  in  his  own  words  : 

"  John  Gardiner,  the  eldest  son  of  Dr.  Sylvester  Gardiner, 


120  JOHN   GAEDINER. 

was  born  in  Boston  in  1731.  He  was  sent  at  an  early  age 
bj  his  father  to  Scotland,  for  his  education,  and  from  thence 
he  went  to  London  and  pursued  his  legal  studies  at  the 
Inner  Temple,  Upon  being  admitted  to  tiie  bar,  he  com- 
menced practice  on  the  Welsh  Circuit,  and  married  Miss 
Harris,  sister  of  the  wife  of  Sir.  Watkin  Williams  Wynne,  dis- 
tinguished in  English  political  life.  He  then  removed  to 
London,  where  he  attracted  the  notice  of  Lord  Mansfield, 
and  with  his  patronage  and  his  own  talents  he  had  a  fair 
prospect  of  rising  to  distinction.  He,  however,  became  in- 
timate with  Churchill,  Wilkes,  and  characters  of  that  de- 
scription, and  was  junior  counsel  in  the  defense  of  Wilkes 
when  he  was  arrested  on  a  general  Secretary  of  State's  war- 
rant. The  cause  excited  great  and  very  general  interest 
at  the  time.  A  handsome  piece  of  plate  was  present- 
ed to  him  on  the  occasion,  by  Wilkes's  political  friends, 
with  a  long  inscription  congratulating  him  upon  the 
success  of  his  effort  in  proving  the  illegality  of  a  '  Secre- 
tary of  Staters  loarrant.''  The  plate  is  still  in  posses- 
sion of  the  counsellor's  grandson,  William  H.  Gardiner  of 
Boston.  In  gaining  his  case,  Gardiner  lost  the  favor  of  Lord 
Mansfield,  who  procured  him  the  appointment  of  Attorney 
General  of  St.  Kitts  as  an  honorable  banishment.  He  here 
took  such  an  active  part  in  politics  as  a  Whig  as  to  make  it 
expedient  for  him  to  quit  the  island,  and  after  remaining  a 
short  time  in  Jamaica,  he  removed  to  Martinique,  where  he 
took  office  under  the  French.  After  the  peace  of  1783,  he 
returned  to  his  native  place,  and  in  a  letter  to  his  father, 
dated  Boston,  July  14,  1783,  lie  says  that '  Gov.  Hancock, 
Samuel  Harris,  and  Dr.  Cooper  have  all  received  me  with 
the  greatest  cordiality  ;  and  General  Washington,  in  conse- 
quence of  letters  from  the  French  Ministry,  overwhelmed 
me  with  civility  during  tiie  four  days  I  staid  with  him.'  In 
Boston  he  resumed  tiie  practice  of  his  profession,  and  in- 


I 


JOHN    GARDINER.  121 

ducecl  liis  brethren  to  resume  the  legal  costume,  which  had 
been  laid  aside.  To  prevent  walking  through  the  street  in 
their  gowns,  they  agreed  to  robe  at  the  house  of  Judge  Tudor, 
which  was  next  to  the  court  house.  The  custom  was  not 
of  long  continuance.  It  was  said  to  have  been  given  up 
from  a  countryman  hearing  Hitchborn,  in  his  gown,  utter  a 
volley  of  oaths  to  a  man  with  whom  he  was  Imrgaining  for 
a  load  of  wood,  and  expressing  his  astonishment  to  all  his 
friends  how  the  Boston  parsons  would  swear. 

''  John  Gardiner's  opinions  were  opposed  to  those  of  his 
father  in  religion  as  well  as  in  politics.  In  the  former  he 
was  an  Arian,  and  took  an  active  part  in  the  alteration  of 
the  liturgy  of  King's  Chapel,  of  which  his  father  had  been 
for  many  years  warden  and  an  active  member.  I  remember 
his  giving  my  mother  a  prayer  book  of  the  altered  liturgy, 
in  which  he  had  written  his  name  to  the  preface  to  show  its 
authorship.  He  would  attend  services  at  Trinity  Church, 
where  his  son,  adhering  to  the  ancient  faith,  was  assistant 
minister,  for  he  said  he  must  hear  Jack  preach,  and  would 
make  the  responses  from  his  altered  book  while  the  people 
were  repeating  from  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer. 

"  In  17yt),  his  wife  being  deceased,  he  removed  to  Pownal- 
boro'  with  his  three  children,  to  property  bequeathed  to  him 
by  my  grandfather.  AVith  great  learning,  a  higlily  cultivated 
taste,  and  accustomed  to  move  in  the  most  polished  circles, 
it  is  diflicult  to  conceive  the  motive  that  should  have  induced 
liim  to  fix  his  residence  among  an  uneducated  people  in  a 
comparative  wilderness.  Many  anecdotes  arc  related  of  his 
eccentricity  while  residing  there,  and  of  the  petty  frauds 
which  the  low  cunning  of  some  of  the  people  were  enabled 
to  practice  upon  iiim.  He  was  chosen  to  tlie  General  Court 
as  representative  from  Pownalboro',  and  was  so  active  in  his 
exertions  to  have  the  English  law  so  altered  as  to  be  adapted 
to  the  circumstances  of  our  country,  as  to  obtain  the  name 
9 


122  JOHN   GARDINER:    BARRISTERS. 

of  law  reformer,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining  the  abolition  of 
the  law  of  primogeniture  and  virtually  the  law  of  entail, 
but  was  not  equally  successful  in  abolishing  special  pleading, 
where  he  was  before  his  age.  He  took  an  active  part  in  ob- 
taining a  repeal  of  the  law  prohibiting  theatrical  performan- 
ces. He  was  persuaded  not  to  deliver  the  speech  he  had 
prepared  for  the  occasion,  as  being  too  learned  for  his  audi- 
ence. He  had  it  printed,  and  it  makes  an  octavo  volume  of 
one  hundred  and  fifty  pages,  full  of  Latin  and  Greek  quota- 
tions. He  was  a  very  fine  classical  scholar,  and  with  a 
remarkable  memory  would  repeat,  as  he  went  along,  whole 
books  from  his  favorite  Greek  authors. 

"  In  1793  he  took  passage  for  Boston  in  a  vessel  with  a 
heavy  deck  load.  Tiie  wind  blew  violently  from  the  north- 
west, and  she  was  overset  immediately  on  leaving  the  river, 
and  all  on  board  perished." 

BARRISTERS  —  INNS     OF     COURT. 

Mr.  Gardiner  was  admitted  to  the  degree  of  barrister 
in  June,  1761,  by  the  "  Honorable  Benchers  of  the  Inner 
Temple,"  London.  The  term  Barrisler  is  derived  from  the 
Latin,  Barra,  Bar,  and  signified  those  persons  who  were 
admitted  to  plead  the  cause  of  their  clients  at  the  l)ar  of  the 
courts.  It  is  equivalent  to  what  was  formerly  understood 
here  as  counsellor  at  law,  and  distinguished  from  an  attor- 
ney, who,  in  legal  contemplation,  prepares  the  details  of 
causes.  Tliis  distinction  has  gradually  passed  away,  and 
among  us,  a  counsellor  performs  the  duties  of  barrister, 
attorney,  and  scrivener.  In  England,  no  person  could  l)e 
admitted  a  barrister,  unless  he  had  resided  three  years  in 
one  of  the  Inns  of  Court,  if  a  graduate  of  Cambridge  or 
Oxford,  and  live  years  if  not  such  graduate.     The  same 


BARRISTERS,  123 

rule  prevailed  in  Massachusetts  before  the  Revolution,  and 
some  years  after.  A  sergeant  at  law,  a  title  never  adopted 
in  this  country,  was  the  highest  rank,  next  to  the  judges, 
and  corresponds  to  doctor  in  the  civil  law.  The  "  Inns  of 
Court,"  viz.,  the  "Inner  Temple,"  the  "Middle  Temple," 
"  Lincoln's  Inn,"  and  "  Gray's  Inn,"  were  anciently  regarded 
as  a  sort  of  university,  to  which  the  sons  of  the  nobility  and 
gentry  resorted,  after  leaving  Oxford  or  Cambridge,  to 
acquire  a  general  knowledge  of  law  and  politics.  These 
young  men  being  liberally  furnislied  with  money,  rendered 
these  cstal)lishmcnts  places  of  riot  and  dissipation,  which 
was  not  cured  until  this  class  of  persons  withdrew,  and  left 
them  for  those  whose  objects  were  study  and  improvement. 

The  only  lawyers  in  Maine  who  were  raised  to  the  degree 
of  barrister,  were  John  Gardiner,  William  Gushing,  Da- 
vid Sewall,  Tjicophilus  Bradbury,  David  Wyer,  and  William 
Wetmore. 

Mr.  Adams,  in  his  valuable  and  piquant  Diary,  gives  us 
some  interesting  notices  on  this  sul)jcct,  and  the  forms  of 
that  day.  He  says,  "  1701,  Nov.  14,  Brother  Quincy  and  1 
sworn  into  the  Superior  Court.  It  is  now  about  three  years 
since  I  was  sworn  into  the  Inferior  Court.  About  this  time 
the  project  was  conceived,  I  suppose  by  Mr.  Hutchinson,  the 
chief  justice,  of  clothing  the  judges  and  lawyers  with  robes. 
Mr.  Quincy  and  I  were  directed  to  prepare  our  gowns  and 
bands  and  the  tie  wigs,  and  were  admitted  barristers,  having 
practiced  three  years  at  the  Inferior  Courts,  according  to 
one  of  our  new  rules."  Again,  in  July,  1706,  he  says, "  A 
meeting  of  the  l)ar  at  the  colfec  house  for  the  admission  of 
three  young  gentlemen.  Lawyers  swarm  and  multiply,  but 
the  country  grows,  t^-c.  Four  years  must  pass  before  the 
three  young  gentlemen  admitted  this  night  will  assume  the 
gown."     *     *     i.i  'i^iiQ  \y^iy  imy  .^t  ij^gf;  iutroduccd  a  regular 


124  BARRISTERS. 

progress  to  the  gown,  and  seven  years  must  be  the  state  of 
probation." 

Joseph  Willard,  in  his  vahiable  address  to  the  Bar  in 
Worcester  County,  in  1829,  informs  us  that  Judge  John 
Spraguc  of  Lancaster,  Woi'cestcr  County,  "  at  the  Feb. 
term  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  Suifolk,  1784,  was  called  up 
by  thejirst  ivrit  that  issued  for  barrister  in  this  Common- 
wealth ;  the  previous  mode  being  without  writ." 

I  think  no  barristers  were  created  in  Massachusetts  after 
1794,  and  at  the  close  of  the  century  but  twelve  rejnained. 
The  barristers,  according  to  English  custom,  which  contin- 
ued sometime  after  the  Revolution,  appeared  in  court  in 
robes,  as  did  also  the  judges,  who  also  retained  the  wig. 
But  these  official  appendages  gradually  disappeared  before 
the  progress  of  republican  ideas.  Judge  William  Cushing, 
who  died  in  1810,  was  the  last  to  dispense  with  the  wig. 
The  robe,  or  gown,  is  still  retained  by  the  judges  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  the  United  States  in  their  annual  session  at 
Washington  ;  and  it  must  be  confessed  that  it  lends  dignity 
to  the  official  station,  which  inspires  respect,  especially 
when  worn  with  the  gravity  which  becomes  a  judge  of  so 
august  a  tribunal. 

The  following  description  of  a  court  scene  in  1761,  given 
by  the  first  President  Adams,  on  occasion  of  the  application 
for  "  Writs  of  Assistance,"  presents  a  vivid  picture  of  the 
court  and  bar  of  that  day  :  "  In  this  chamber  near  the  fire, 
were  seated  the  five^  judges,  with  Lieut.  Gov.  Ilutcliinson  at 
their  head,  as  chief  justice,  all  in  their  new  fresii  robes  of 
scarlet  English  cloth,  in  their  broad  bands  and  immense 
judicial  wigs.  In  tliis  chamber  were  seated  at  a  long  table 
all  the  Barristers  of  Boston  and  its  neighboring  county  of 
Middlesex,  in  their  gowns,  bands,  and  tie  wigs.  They  were 
not  seated  on  ivory  chairs,  but  their  dress  was  more  solemn 


I 


WILLIAM   WETxMORE  :    PROGRESS   OF    BUSINESS.  125 

and  more  pomjious  than  that  of  the  Roman  Senate,  when 
the  CJauls  broke  in  upon  them." 

The  court  consisted  of  Chief  Justice  Hutchinson,  Benja- 
min Lynde,  Jolin  Gushing,  father  of  our  William  Gushing, 
Peter  Oliver,  and  Ghambcrs  Russell. 

In  1800,  the  number  of  barristers  in  England  was  seven 
hundred  and  seventy-three  ;  but  they  increased  very  rapidly 
in  the  fifty  succeeding  years,  numbering  in  1851,  three 
thousand  two  hundred  and  seventy-four. 

WILLIAM     W  E  T  M  0  R  E  . 

William  Wctmore,  of  whom  wc  have  spoken  as  one  of  the 
barristers  of  Maine,  resided  several  years  on  the  banks  of 
the  Penobscot  River,  and  practiced  his  profession  there 
during  the  latter  portion  of  the  last  century  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  present.  He  was  born  in  Gonnccticut,  in  1749, 
graduated  at  Harvard  Gollege  in  1770,  and  practiced  law  in 
Salem,  Massachusetts ;  but  having  a  large  property  in  Maine, 
in  right  of  his  wife,  who  was  a  Waldo,  he  established 
himself  upon  it  and  managed  it  sevei;al  years  ;  a  portion  of 
it  was  Orphan's  Island,  in  the  Penobscot  River.  He  was 
several  years  Judge  of  Probate  of  Hancock  Gounty,  until 
1804,  when  he  returned  to  Boston,  and  was  Judge  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  that  city ;  an  office  which  ho 
filled  acceptably  many  years.  He  died  in  1830,  aged  eighty- 
one.     Judge  Story  married  his  daughter. 

UAI'II)    PROGRESS   IN   BUSINESS    AND    POPULATION. 

After  the  peace  of  1788,  the  advance  of  Maine  was  very 
rai)id  in  business  and  population.  The  old  Commonwealth 
was  a  large  ownei*  in  her  territory,  and  many  extensive 


126  ACCESSION   OF   LAWYERS. 

tracts  were  held  by  private  persons  for  speculation  and  set- 
tlement. Great  exertions  were  made  by  public  and  private 
owners  to  bring  their  lands  into  the  market,  and  increase 
the  number  of  settlers.  In  the  seven  years  after  the  peace, 
the  population  nearly  doubled,  rising  to  about  one  hundred 
thousand  souls  ;  and  commercial  business  all  along  the  line 
of  her  coast  was  in  active  operation,  giving  employment  to 
lumber  men  and  mechanics,  and  building  up  thriving  towns 
upon  her  whole  sea  border.  In  1789,  the  counties  of  Han- 
cock and  Washington  were  incorporated ;  and,  though  the 
former  contained  but  five  thousand  seven  hundred  inhab- 
itants, and  the  latter  but  two  thousand  five  hundred,  yet 
from  the  activity  and  energy  of  the  people,  and  their 
prospective  growth,  enterprising  young  men  were  induced 
to  embark  their  hopes  and  prospects  in  this  new  and  unculti- 
vated field  of  labor. 

Lawyers  were  not  backward' in  following  these  sure  indi- 
cations of  business.  In  1787,  Manasseh  Smith  went  to 
Wiscasset ;  in  1789,  Salmon  Chase  and  Samuel  Cooper 
Johonnot  established  themselves  in  Portland  ;  Isaac  Parker, 
afterwards  chief  justice  of  Massachusetts,  in  Castine,  and 
was  the  first  lawyer  settled  in  the  State  east  of  "Wiscasset ; 
Dudley  Iluljbard  in  Berwick,  where  Ebenezer  Sullivan,  an 
elder  brother  of  Governor  Sullivan,  was  practicing,  a  brill- 
iant and  talented  man,  ])ut  prematurely  ruined  by  intem- 
perance. In  1789,  George  Stacy  settled  in  Biddeford,  and 
Silas  Lee  in  Wiscasset ;  in  1790,  Phineas  Bruce  in  Machias, 
the  first  lawyer  who  went  to  Washington  County  ;  William 
Symmcs  in  Portland ;  James  Bridge  in  Augusta ;  and  Syl- 
vanus  Wildes  in  Kennclmnk. 

ERENEZER     SULLIVAN. 

Ebenezer  Sullivan  was  a  man  of  varied  talents  and  pur- 
suits.     He    first   engaged  in   trade ;    then   served    in    the 


EBENEZER   SULLIVAN.  127 

army ;  he  commanded  a  company  against  the  Indians  in 
the  West ;  and  finally  became  a  member  of  the  bar.  "  He 
was  a  man,"  says  one  who  knew  him  well  (General  Hods- 
don),  "  of  a  very  fine  frame  and  figure,  straight,  and  about 
six  feet  high ;  and  his  walk,  looks,  speech,  and  every 
motion  of  him,  were  indications  of  being  an  active,  ener- 
getic, and  dignified  military  commander.  According  to  my 
best  knowledge,  he  was,  if  not  the  first  lawyer  that  practiced 
in  Berwick,  the  only  one  there  for  several  years,  until  Dud- 
ley Hubbard  opened  an  office  in  the  same  place.  His  inor- 
dinate use  of  ardent  spirit,  together  with  the  zealous 
perseverance  of  Dudley  Hubbard,  his  professional  competi- 
tor, diminished  his  practice,  and  he  left  the  State  ;  went  to 
New  York  City,  where  he  died  shortly  after. 


CHAPTEH    XI. 


LAWYERS    FROM    1790   TO  1800  —  PARKER — CHASE  —  JOHONNOT 
—  HUBBARD  —  STACY. 


During  the  ten  years  from  1790  to  1800,  lawyers  came 
into  the  State  with  an  accelerated  movement ;  they  more 
than  kept  pace  with  the  population.  The  number  of  inhab- 
itants, which  in  1700  was  ninety-six  thousand  five  hundred 
and  forty,  came  in  1800  to  be  one  hundred  and  fifty-one 
thousand  seven  hundred  and  nineteen.  The  number  of 
lawyers  in  1700  was  sixteen,  or  one  to  six  thousand  thirty- 
three  of  the  population  ;  in  1800  there  were  fifty-four 
lawyers,  or  one  to  two  thousand  eight  hundred  and  nine  of 
the  population.  Among  those  who  came  into  the  State  in 
that  period  of  ten  years,  were  Prentiss  Mcllcii ;  the  late 
Judge  Wilde  ;  Joseph  Thomas  of  Kennebunk  ;  Nathaniel 
Pcrlcy  of  Ilallowell ;  Samuel  Thatcher  at  New  Gloucester, 
still  living,  and  the  oldest  lawyer  in  the  State  ;  Judge  Bai- 
ley of  Wiscasset;  Allen  Gilman,  of  Bangor;  Wilham 
Wetmore  at  Castine ;  Edward  P.  llayman  of  Berwick, 
many  years  Clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  this  circuit ; 
Judge  Stel)bins  of  Alna ;  Chief  Justice  Wiiitinan,  now  liv- 
ing in  Massachusetts  ;  Cyrus  King,  John  Holmes,  Nicholas 


LAWYERS  FROM   1790  TO   1800.  129 

Emery,  Creorge  W.  Wallingford,  in  York  County  ;  Peter  0. 
Aldcn  at  Brunswick  ;  and  Benjamin  Hasey  at  Topsham. 

It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  of  the  fifty-four  lawyers  in 
practice  in  1800,  forty-nine  were  immigrants  from  other 
States.  Benjamin  Hasey  of  Topsham,  James  Bridge  of 
Augusta,  Nathan  Bridge  of  Gardiner,  and  Tliomas  Rice  of 
Winslow,  were  natives.  Of  these  fifty-four,  it  may  again  be 
observed,  that  three  became  chief  justices  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  —  Parker,  Mcllcn,  Whitman;  four,  associate  justices 
of  the  same  court,  —  Tliacher,  Parker,  Wilde,  Emery  ; 
three,  chief  justices  of  the  Common  Pleas, —  Whitman,  Silas 
Lee,  Wetmore  ;  six,  judges  of  the  Common  Pleas,  —  Froth- 
ingham,  Dana,  Widgery,  Stebbins,  Wetmore,  Whitman  ; 
one,  judge  of  tlic  Admiralty  Court  during  the  Revolution, — 
Timotliy  Langdon ;  four.  Judges  of  Probate,  —  James 
Bridge,  Silas  Lee,  Jeremiah  Bailey,  Judah  Dana ;  one.  Solic- 
itor General,  —  Davis;  two.  United  States  Attornies, — 
Davis  and  Silas  Lee  ;  one.  United  States  Marshal  of  the  Dis- 
trict,—  Parker;  three,  senators  in  Congress,  —  Mellen, 
Holmes,  Dana  ;  and  eleven,  members  of  the  lower  house  of 
Congress,  —  George  Thacher,  Judge  Parker,  Lee,  Bruce, 
Rice,  Samuel  Thatcher,  Widgery,  Whitman,  King,  Holmes, 
Bailey.  Two  had  been  members  of  the  convention  of  Mas- 
sachusetts on  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  — 
Symmes  and  Widgery ;  and  several  were  members  of  the 
convention  which  prepared  the  Constitution  of  ISIaine. 
Many  were  distinguished,  not  only  at  the  bar,  but  in  i)ublic 
life  ;  and  adorned  various  spheres  of  usefulness  by  high 
social,  mental,  and  manly  qualities. 

Only  two  are  now  living,  of  all  who  were  in  practice  in 
the  State  in  1800 :  the  survivors  arc  Cliicf  Justice  Whit- 
man, who  was  born  March  11,  1770,  and  Samuel  Thntche^ 
born  in  July  of  the  same  year,  —  they  are  consequently 
both  eighty-six   years  old.     The   former  removed   to  East 


130 


RESIDENT   LAWYERS   FROM   1040  TO   1800. 


Bridgewatcr,  his  native  place,  in  1852 ;  the  oflier  ^ivcs  in 
Brewer. 


For  convenient  reference,  I  insert  a  list  of  all  the  resident 
lawyers  wlio  practiced  in  IMaine  prior  to  1800,  with  the 
years  of  commencing  and  ending  practice  in  Maine,  where 
I  have  been  able  to  ascertain  the  facts  — 


Thomas  Gorges, 

1640  —  1643 

Thomas  Morton,  . 

.     1643  —  1645 

Noah  Emery,    .... 

1725  —  1762 

Caleb  Emery, 

.     1750  —  1775 

John  Emery,    .... 

1752  — 

"William  Gushing, 

.     1755  —  1772 

David  Sewall,  .... 

1759  —  1777 

Theophilus  Bradbury,  . 

.     1761  —  1775 

David  Wyer,     .... 

1762  —  1776 

Timothy  Langdon, 

.     1768  —  1808 

James  Sullivan, 

17G8  — 1778 

Roland  Gushing,  . 

.     1768  —  1789 

Theophilus  Parsons, 

1774  —  1775 

Ezra  Taylor,         .         .         .         . 

.     1779  — 

John  Frothinghara,  . 

1779  —  1804 

Royal  Tyler,         .         .         .         . 

.     1779  —  1781 

William  Li thgow,  Jr., 

1780  —  1796 

George  Thacher,  .         .         .         . 

.     1781  —  1801 

Daniel  Davis,    .... 

1782  —  1804 

Samuel  Daggct,   .         .         .         . 

.     1783  —  1798 

Manassch  Smith, 

1788  —  1823 

George  Stacy,       .         .         .         . 

.     1789—1792 

Dudley  Ilubljard, 

1789  —  1816 

Samuel  G.  Johonnot,    . 

.     1789  —  1791 

^Salmon  Ghasc, 

1789  —  1806 

Isaac  Parker,        .         .         .         . 

.    1789  —  1806 

RESIDENT   LAWYERS   FROM   1700   TO    1800. 


131 


Silas  Lee, 
Sylvanus  Wildes, 
James  Bridge,  . 
William  Symmes, 
Phineas  Bruce, 
Ebenezer  Sullivan, 
William  Widgcry, 
Prentiss  INIellen,  . 
Joseph  Thomas, 
George  Warren,   . 
Samuel  S.  Wilde,      . 
Amos  Stoddard,    . 
Job  Nelson, 
Benjamin  Hasey, 
John  Bagley,     . 
Thomas  Rice, 
Reuben  Kidder, 
Nathaniel  Perley, 
William  Ilodge, 
Moses  Gill,  . 
Ebenezer  Bradish,    . 
Thomas  S.  Sparhawk, 
Allen  Gilman, 
Edward  P.  Hay  man, 
Oliver  Leonard, 
Benjamin  Whitwell, 
John  Hathaway, 
Cyrus  King, 
Josiah  Stebbins, 
Peter  O.  Alden,  . 
James  D.  lIoj)kins,   . 
Jeremiah  Bailey, 
Samuel  P.  Glidden,    . 
Charles  Angicr,     . 


1789  —  1814 

1790  —  1792 
1790  —  1834 
1790  —  1807 
1790  —  1805 


1792 

1792 

1792 

1793 

1793- 

1793 

1794 

1794 

1794- 

1795- 

1795- 

1795- 

1795- 

1796- 

1796  ■ 

1796  - 

1796  - 

1796  - 

1796- 

1796  - 
1797- 
1797- 

1797  - 
1797- 
1797  - 
1797  - 
1798- 


-1801 
-1840 
-1830 
-1796 
-1815 
■1798 
-1850 
-1851 
-1795 
-1854 
-1816 
-1824 
-1798 
-1798 
•1799 
-1807 
■1846 
■1831 
■  1828 
■1812 
1799 
1817 
1829 
1843 
1840 
1853 
1818 
1803 


132      RESIDENT   LAWYERS    FROM    1708   TO    1800:     PARKER. 


Samuel  Thatcher, 
George  E.  Vaughan, 
Nicholas  Emery, 
Judah  Dana, 
Thomas  Bowman, 
John  Merrill, 
Nathan  Bridge, 
Isaac  Story, 

George  W.  Wallingford, 
John  Holmes, 
Ezekiel  Whitman,     . 
Andrew  Greenwood,     . 
Leonard  Morse, 
John  Park  Little, 
Bohan  P.  Field, 
Temple  Hovey,     . 
Daniel  P.  Upton, 
John  Winslow,     . 
Henry  V.  Chamberlain, 


1798  — 
1798  — 
1798  — 
1798  — 
1798  — 
1798  — 
1798  — 
1798  — 

1798  — 

1799  — 
1799  — 
1799  — 
1799  — 

1799  — 

1800  — 
1800  — 
1800  — 
1800  — 
1800  — 


18G2 
1845 
1800 
181G 
1825 
1801 
1821 
1843 
1822 
1816 
1823 
1809 
1843 
1803 
1805 
1803 
1808 


ISA,AC    PARKER.      1789  —  1806. 


Having  presented  the  names  of  all  the  lawyers  who 
came  to  Maine  prior  to  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and 
descriljcd  most  of  them,  it  will  be  an  agreeable  duty  to  con- 
tinue my  slcetchcs  through  the  remaining  portion  of  this 
varied  group,  on  which  we  shall  find  the  lights  and  shad- 
ows of  life  have  fallen  with  no  less  intensoness  than  on 
other  fields  of  human  struggle  and  aml)ition. 

None  of  the  persons  we  have  named  were  more  conspic- 
uous, in  all  the  qualities  of  a  lawyer  and  a  gentleman,  than 
Chief  Justice  Parker.  His  first  American  ancestor  was 
John  Parker,  who  came  from  Biddeford,  in  Great  Jiritain, 


ISAAC   PARKER.  133 

to  Saco  in  Maine.  In  1650,  he  purchased  the  island  in 
Kennebec  River,  which  afterwards,  and  now,  bears  his 
name,  —  Parker's  Island,  Ue  died  there,  in  1G61.  His 
son  John  became  a  large  purchaser  of  lands  on  the  Kenne- 
bec River,  and  is  said,  in  ancient  records,  to  "  have  been 
the  lirst  of  the  English  nation  to  suljdue  the  said  tract." 
He  was  driven  from  his  possessions  on  the  Kennebec  by  the 
Indians  in  1G89,  and  was  killed  at  the  fort  in  Casco,  now 
Portland,  with  his  son  James,  in  an  assault  by  the  French 
and  Indians,  in  1690,  at  the  age  of  fifty-six.  The  surviving 
members  of  his  family  established  themselves  in  Charles- 
town,  Massachusetts.  The  chief  justice  was  in  the  sixth 
degree  of  descent  from  the  first  John,  and  was  born  in 
Boston,  June  17,  1768.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College 
in  1786,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  with  high  honor.  Among 
his  classmates  were  Timothy  Bigelow,  Alden  Bradford, 
Dudley  Hubbard,  and  John  Lowell.  He  maintained  at 
school  and  college  a  high  rank  in  scholarship.  He  pursued 
his  law  studies  in  Boston,  in  the  ofBce  of  Judge  Tudor ; 
and,  on  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  in  1789,  moved  to  that 
part  of  the  town  of  Penobscot  which  is  now  Castine.  Han- 
cock County,  of  which  that  was  the  shire-town,  was  incor- 
porated the  same  year  ;  and  he  was  the  first,  and  for  some 
years,  the  only  lawyer  in  it.  His  talents  and  industry  soon 
gave  him  a  high  rank,  and  his  genial  temper  and  manners 
made  him  a  universal  favorite.  In  1791,  1793,  1794,  and 
1795,  he  represented  his  town  in  the  legislature  ;  and  from 
this  period  to  the  close  of  his  Hfe,  in  July,  18->0,  there  was 
scarcely  a  year  in  which  he  was  not  in  some  important  pub- 
lic orticc.  From  1796  to  1798  he  was  one  of  the  three 
representatives  in  Congress  from  Maine,  succeeding  Gen- 
eral Dearborn  :  liis  colleagues  were  George  Thacher  and 
Poleg  Watlsworth.  He  declined  a  re-election,  and  the  ])lace 
was  filled  by  .Silas  Lee.     In  1799,  he  was  appointed    Tnited 


134  ISAAC   PARKER. 

States  Marshal  for  Maine  District ;  and  then  moved  to  Port- 
land, as  the  courts  were  there  held,  and  it  was  the  most 
convenient  place  to  discharge  the  duties  of  his  ofhce.  In 
Decemher,  1803,  Mr.  Jefferson  removed  him,  and  gave  the 
oOico  to  Dr.  Thornton  of  Saco,  who  held  it  to  the  time  of 
his  death,  in  1821.  Tliese  offices  did  not  withdraw  him 
from  his  profession,  wliich  he  pursued  successfully  in  the 
common  law  courts,  being ,  engaged  in  the  most  important 
causes  which  were  pending  in  the  tribunals  of  the  State. 
He  took  high  rank  as  a  counsellor  and  an  advocate  ;  and 
enjoyed  a  lucrative  practice,  until  his  appointment  as  an 
associate  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts,  in 
January,  180ij.  He  took  his  seat  at  the  following  March 
term  in  Suffolk.  In  December,  of  the  same  year,  he  pre- 
sided alone  at  the  important  trial  of  Thomas  0.  Selfridge  for 
the  killing  of  Charles  Austin ;  in  which  he  had  to  withstand 
the  forensic  skill  and  ingenuity  of  the  ablest  lawyers  in 
Massachusetts,  on  an  issue  invenomed  by  a  harsh  party 
spirit.  Attorney  General  Sullivan  and  Solicitor  General 
Davis  were  for  the  government ;  Samuel  Dexter,  Christo- 
pher Gore,  Harrison  G.  Otis,  and  Charles  Jackson,  for  the 
prisoner.  He  came  out  of  this  severe  ordeal  with  unquali- 
fied approbation  for  dignity  and  impartiality. 

The  appointment  of  so  young  a  man,  being  then  but 
thirty-seven  years  old,  to  so  important  an  office,  by  a  gov- 
ernor eminently  qualified  to  estimate  character  and  qualifi- 
cations, as  was  Governor  Strong,  and  by  the  side  of  such 
aged  and  jjromincnt  men  as  the  accomplished  Cliicf  Justice 
Dana,  ajid  Justices  Sedgwick,  Sewall,  and  Tliacher,  is  a 
sufficient  indication  of  the  legal  al)ility  and  standing  of 
Judge  Parker  at  the  bar  of  the  Commonwealth.  Put  we 
learn  from  his  cotemporaries,  that  his  qualifications  for  the 
office    were  fully   eijual   to   its  demands,   and    are   amply 


ISAAC    PARKER.  135 

attested  by  his  judicial  career  of  twenty-four  years.  The 
testimony  of  a  cotemporary  to  mc,  a  short  time  ago,  will 
throw  an  agreeable  light  upon  the  private  character  of  this 
estimable  man ;  of  his  public  career  we  need  say  notliing, — 
that  is  already  brilliantly  recorded.  Judge  Whitman  said, 
"  Parker  was  one  of  the  pleasaiitest  men  I  ever  knew, — 
kind,  courteous,  antl  amiable.  lie  was  not  sanguine  or  over 
confident  in  his  cases  ;  and  was  often  embarrassed  in  argu- 
ing them.  "  He  told  me,"  said  Judge  W.,"  that  lie  frequently 
sulfered  from  this  dittidence  and  embarrassment.  At  times 
he  was  very  eloquent,  and  always,  from  his  candid,  honest 
manner,  had  great  weight  with  the  jury."  He  further  ob- 
served that  Judge  Parker  once  said  to  him,  that  his  per- 
formances- depended  very  much  upon  the  state  of  his 
feelings. 

Chief  Justice  Scwall  having  died  suddenly  at  Wiscasset, 
in  1814,  he  was  immediately  appointed  his  successor  ;  and 
as  Chief  Justice  Sliaw  remarks,  "  to  the  universal  satisfac- 
tion of  the  community."  Tliis  sentiment  was  in  no  wise 
abated  through  the  sixteen  years  during  which  lie  presided 
in  the  court,  to  his  own  sudden  and  lamented  death  in  1830, 
at  the  age  of  sixty-two.  His  most  enduring  monument  is 
to  be  found  in  the  twenty-six  volumes  of  the  Massachusetts 
Reports,  beginning  at  tlie  second  ;  they  record  his  clear  and 
learned  opinions,  in  all  branches  of  the  law,  which  under 
the  profound  lal)ors  of  Chief  Justice  Parsons  and  himself, 
were  molded  and  formed  to  that  mature  system  of  jurispru- 
dence which  is  the  pride  and  security  of  the  ancient  Com- 
monwealth. No  man  was  ever  more  free  from  aifectation 
or  pretension  than  Judge  Parker ;  modest,  uiuissuming, 
unalfectedly  great,  he  despised  all  tiie  accessories  and  expe- 
dients to  which  weak  and  mean  men  resort  to  acquire 
notoriety. 


136  ISAAC   PARKER. 

Judge  Parker  was  a  graceful  and  polished  writer,  as  well 
as  speaker.  In  1800,  he  delivered  an  eulogy  on  the  death 
of  Washington,  at  Portland,  which  was  published :  his  beau- 
tiful tribute  to  the  memory  and  character  of  his  predecessor, 
Chief  Justice  Parsons,  was  also  published.  He  was  eleven 
years  one  of  the  trustees  of  Bowdoin  College,  and  twenty 
years  one  of  the  overseers  of  Harvard,  from  which  college 
he  received  the  degree  of  LL.  1),,  in  1814.  In  181G,  he  was 
appointed  Royall  Professor  of  Law  in  Harvard  University, — 
the  first  on  that  foundation,  —  and  held  the  office  until 
1827. 

His  popularity  as  a  man,  and  his  reputation  as  a  lawyer 
and  advocate,  attracted  young  students  to  his  office  for  their 
law  education,  after  he  moved  to  Portland,  Among  tliese, 
were  Samuel  D,  Freeman  and  John  Wadsworth,  talented 
townsmen  ;  William  B,  Sewall,  now  of  Kennebunk  ;  James 
Savage,  the  venerable  antiquary,  of  Boston ;  and  Abraham 
Eustis,  afterwards  Brigadier  General  in  the  United  States 
army  ;  these  were  all  graduates  of  Harvard,  and  are  dead, 
except  Sewall  and  Savage. 

Judge  Parker  married  Rebecca,  a  daughter  of  Joseph 
Hall  of  Medford,  Massachusetts,  who  was  a  descendant  from 
John  Hall  of  Concord,  1G58,  afterwards  of  Medford,  which 
became  the  seat  of  the  family.  His  grandson,  John  Hall,  was 
the  father  of  Joseph  and  grandfather  of  Mrs.  Parker,  Her 
mother  was  Abigail  Brooks,  a  member  of  the  honored  fam- 
ily of  that  name  in  that  ancient  town.  By  her  lie  had 
several  children;  sons,  —  Edward,  Charles  A,,  and  Jolni  ; 
daughters, —  Ann,  married  to  Henry  Wainwright  of  Boston  ; 
Margaret,  who  died  before  her  father,  unmarried ;  and  Emily, 
married  to  Mr,  Davis  of  Boston.  Charles  graduated  at 
Harvard  in  1819,  was  a  lawyer  in  Boston,  and  many  years 
Clerk  of  the  Sui»it'iiie  Judicial  Court  in  Suflblk  County, 


SALMON  CHASE.  137 


SAL  51  ON    CHASE. 


Salmon  Chase,  another  distinguished  lawyer,  came  into 
the  State,  and  to  the  practice  in  1789,  the  same  year  with 
Judge  Parker.    Mr.  Chase  was  born  in  Cornish,  New  Hamp- 
shire, in  17(31,  a  descendant  from  Aquila  Chase,  who  was 
l)orn  in  1G18,  and  came  from  Cornwall,  England,  to  New- 
l)ury,  Massachusetts.     Mr.  Chase  had  six  brothers,  all  of 
whom  were  highly  respected.     Among  them  were  Dudley 
Chase,  Chief  Justice  of  the  Supreme   Court  of  Vermont, 
and  a  distinguished  Senator  in  Congress  ;  and  the  Right 
Rev.  Philander  Chase,  Bishop  of  Ohio  and  Illinois.     Mr. 
Chase  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  178-5,  after  which 
he  went  to  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  to  take  charge  of. 
a  school,   and   1)ecame  a  student  at  law  with  Judge  Sher- 
burne.    On  completing  his  studies,  he  established  himself 
in  Portland,  where  he  continued  in  the  quiet  and  uninter- 
rupted pursuit  of  his  profession  until  his  death,  in  1806,  at 
the   age  of  forty-five.     Mr.  Chase  was  a  sound,   well-read 
lawyer,  and  had  such  a  reputation  through  the  country  as 
to  be  called  the  "  Law  Book."     In  the  great  deficiency  of 
reports   and  books  of  reference,  his  opinions   were  much 
relied  on  in  cases  of  doubt  and  difficulty.     Mr.  Hopkins, 
who  was  at  the  bar  with  him  ten  years,  in  a  notice  of  him, 
says,  "  He  was  not  only  an  able  lawyer,  but  he  was  well 
versed  in  all  the  branches  of  solid  learning  ;  in  legal  science, 
in  mathematical   and  metaphysical  learning,  he  had  few 
superiors."     He  further  says,  "  Mr.  Chase  was  held  by  all 
his  cotemporaries  in  very  high  respect  as  a  lawyer."     His 
practice  was  very  extensive,  more  so  than  any  lawyer  of  the 
time  in  the  State,  and  confidence  in  him  was  unlimited  ;  in 
the  midst  of  this  success,  he  was  suddenly  removed,  and  a 
brilliant  light  of  the  bar  extinguished.     One  of  his  cotem- 
poraries thus  spoke  of  liim,  "  Salmon    Chase  was  a  sound 

10 


138  SALMON   CHASE. 

lawyer,  but  not  an  eloquent  advocate.  He  was  wont  to  say, 
that  let  him  prepare  himself  as  thoroughly  as  he  might,  and 
be  possessed  of  all  the  law  and  facts  of  his  case,  when  he 
arose  to  address  the  jury,  his  mind  seemed  to  be  in  chaos, 
he  could  not  collect  and  arrange  his  thoughts,  nor  satisfy 
himself  in  the  presentation  of  his  cause."  I  learn  from  the 
same  respected  authority,  that  "  lie  was  a  kind  and  amiable 
man,  easy  and  accessible  in  his  manners,  and  of  fine  per- 
sonal appearance.  From  his  sincerity  and  frank  manner, 
he  always  had  great  influence  with  the  jury.  On  one  occa- 
sion he  was  engaged  in  a  cause  in  the  Common  Fleas,  before 
Chief  Justice  Lewis,  an  old  man,  with  Mellen  and  Hopkins, 
who,  being  both  excited,  were  continually  sparring  with 
each  other,  to  the  great  annoyance  of  the  bar  ;  in  the  midst 
of  which  the  judge  was  quietly  enjoying  his  nap.  Chase, 
out  of  patience,  jumped  up,  and  said,  "  Pray,  your  Honor, 
stop  this  jabber,  jabber,  jabber." 

Mr.  Chase  was  the  uncle  of  the  respected  Secretary  of 
the  Treasury  of  the  United  States,  who  was  named  for  his 
uncle,  and  to  prevent  all  mistake  in  the  case,  the  name  of 
"  Portland "  was  added,  and  "  Salmon  Portland  Chase " 
perpetuates  the  name  and  residence  of  the  honored  subject 
of  our  notice. 

The  two  eminent  lawyers  of  whom  I  have  been  speaking, 
Parker  and  Chase,  together  witli  their  cotcmjiorary,  AVilliam 
Symmes,  of  whom  a  brief  notice  will  follow,  stand  now 
vividly  before  me,  as  I  saw  them  in  my  youthful  days,  in 
the  court  room  and  streets  of  Portland.  All  were  of  dig- 
nified mein  and  carriage.  Chase  much  the  tallest,  but  all 
portly,  erect,  and  handsome.  They  were  well-preserved 
specimens  of  the  old  school  gentlemen  and  lawyers,  all  born 
before  the  commencement  of  the  Pcvolution. 

Mr.  Chase's  death  was  very  sudden ;  he  was  at  his  office 
on  Monday,  and  the  next  Sunday  he  died  of  bilious  fever. 


1 


SALMON   CHASE:    SAMUEL   C.    JOHONNOT.  139 

He  left  a  sou  and  a  daughter,  remarkably  fine  children. 
(Jeorge,  the  son,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1818, 
with  high  promise,  and  gave  every  indication  of  honor  and 
usefulness.  He  commenced  the  study  of  law  in  Portland, 
l)ut  the  next  year,  November  11,  1819,  in  the  midst  of 
brilliant  expectations,  his  numerous  friends  and  companions 
were  summoned  to  pay  the  last  tribute  of  affection  and 
esteem  at  the  grave  of  their  friend.  His  sister,  Elizabeth, 
married  Dr.  Howard  of  Boston,  a  grandson  of  Rev.  Simeon 
Howard,  the  beloved  pastor  of  the  West  Church,  Boston. 

Mr.  Chase  was  twice  married,  first  to  Miss  Mary  Stinson 
of  Portsmouth,  by  whom  he  had  one  son,  George,  before 
mentioned,  born  September  20,  1800.  She  died  in  1801. 
In  1804  he  married  Sarah  Tyng  Waldo,  widow  of  Samuel 
Waldo,  a  merchant  in  Portland,  by  whom  he  bad  the 
daughter  before  spoken  of,  who,  with  the  mother,  survived 
him. 

SAMUEL     C.     JOHONNOT. 

My  next  sketch  will  be  of  one  whose  name  is  not  even 
known  to  persons  of  the  last  two  generations,  —  a  man 
who  rose  upon  our  horizon  with  a  brilliancy  which  gave 
token  of  eminent  success,  but  who  was  consumed  in  his  own 
brightness.  I  refer  to  Samuel  Cooper  Johonnot.  He  was 
born  in  Boston,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1783,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Cumberland  in  October,  1789, 
the  same  year  which  introduced  Mr.  Chase,  Dudley  HhI)- 
bard,  and  others  to  the  practice  in  Maine.  He  had  pre- 
viously studied  and  been  admitted  in  Boston.  In  portraying 
his  character  I  ado])t  the  language  of  Solicitor  General  Davis, 
in  a  letter  to  me  in  the  year  1828.  "  Johonnot  was  the 
grandson  of  the  cclcl)ratcd  Samuel  Cooper,  D,  D.,  of  Boston, 
for  whom  lie  was  namiMl  and  by  wliom  he  was  adopted.    His 


140  SAMUEL   C.    JOHONNOT. 

grandfather  discovered  his  extraordinary  genius  when  he 
was  quite  a  chikl.  At  an  early  age  he  sent  him  to  France 
and  Geneva  for  his  education  ;  he  remained  many  years  in 
those  countries,  and  when  he  returned  he  had  notliing  of 
the  appearance,  manners,  or  habits  of  an  American.  He 
was  a  complete  Frenchman  in  everything.  But  his  educa- 
tion was  as  thorough  as  any  young  man  at  that  time  could 
acquire  in  Europe.  He  was  an  elegant  scholar.  Spoke  the 
modern  languages,  was  full  of  wit,  vivacity,  and  Latin,  and 
one  of  the  pleasantest  companions  I  ever  met  with.  But 
with  all  this,  his  European  education  ruined  him  for  an 
American.  He  had  no  feelings,  notions,  or  manners  in 
common  with  us  Yankees.  For  these  reasons  he  could 
never  succeed  in  his  profession,  though  he  had  great  natural 
endowments  for  it ;  he  accordingly  quit  it,  and  went  to  the 
West  Indies.  The  last  I  heard  of  him  he  was  an  auctioneer. 
He  studied  with  the  late  Governor  Sullivan,  by  whom  he 
was  introduced  to  the  bar,  and  who  was  extremely  fond  of 
him." 

To  this  graphic  notice  from  Mr.  Davis,  I  will  add  the  tes- 
timony of  Mr.  Hopkins,  who  knew  him  well.  "  His  satirical 
powers  rendered  him  dangerous  to  those  who  fell  under  his 
censure,  and  ultimately  proved  injurious  to  himself ;  for, 
entering  into  a  newspaper  quarrel  upon  the  subject  of  a 
political  election  in  1791,  his  satire  bore  very  severely  upon 
several  of  the  most  considerable  persons  in  Portland  ;  their 
resentment  rendered  his  longer  stay  so  perilous,  that  he 
foitnd  it  necessary  to  make  a  hasty  removal.  He  resided  in 
Portland  only  about  two  years  ;  he  afterwards  went  to  Dem- 
arara,  where  he  was  appointed  American  Consul  in  1703, 
and  accumulated  a  handsome  estate."  '     He  died  in  180G. 

1  Hopkins's  Address  to  the  Cumberland  Bar,  1833. 


MANASSEH   SMITH.  141 


MANASSEH     SMITH 


Maiiasseh  Smith  was  a  son  of  Abijali  Smith  of  Leominster, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  was  born  in  1749,  and  graduated 
at  Harvard  College  in  1773.  For  awhile  he  was  chaplain 
in  the  army ;  he  afterwards  pursued  the  study  of  law,  and 
commenced  practice  in  Leominster,  and  was  for  a  time  Clerk 
of  the  Court.  He  moved  to  Hollis  in  New  Han^Dshire,  and 
married  there  Hannah,  a  daughter  of  Daniel  Emerson  of 
that  place,  where  several  of  his  children  were  born.  In 
1788  he  established  himself  in  Wiscasset,  Maine,  where  he 
ever  after  resided.  He  was  wont  to  say  that  his  whole 
library,  at  the  commencement  of  his  practice,  consisted  of 
the  Statutes  of  Massachusetts  and  Blackstonc's  Commen- 
taries. Law  books  were  rare  and  expensive  in  that  day, 
very  few  had  been  published  in  this  country ;  the  first  Amer- 
ican edition  of  Blackstone  was  issued  at  Philadelphia  in 
1772,  and  was  a  great  enterprise ;  the  books  then  to  be 
found  in  the  principal  cities,  Boston,  New  York,  and  Phil- 
adelphia, were  Bacon's  Abridgment,  Burrows,  Plowden, 
Hobart,  2d  Raymond,  and  Pere  Williams's  Reports,  and 
the  Law  Dictionaries  of  Cunningham  and  Jacobs.  It  was 
not  until  some  years  after  the  Revolution,  that  any  law 
books,  except  a  few  of  forms,  were  published  in  this  country: 
among  the  first  were  several  prepai-ed  by  Samuel  Freeman 
of  Portland  ;  viz.,  the  Clerk's  Assistant,  Town  Officer,  Pro- 
bate Manual,  and  Justice's  Assistant :  these,  as  an  old  prac- 
titioner informed  me,  were  in  general  use  by  the  profession, 
and  with  the  Statutes,  Blackstonc's  Commentaries,  and 
Espinasse's  Nisi  Prius,  were  al^out  all  the  books  which  a 
lawyer's  library  contained  at  the  close  of  the  last  century. 
Mr.  Freeman  was  competent  to  the  task  he  had  undertaken, 
for,  before  the  Revolution,  he  had  been  one  of  the  irregular 
practitioners  at  the  bar,  and  afterwards  had   filled  all  the 


142  MANASSEH   SMITH  :    LAW   BOOKS. 

offices,  the  forms  of  which  his  books  contained.  He  was 
forty-six  years  Clerk  of  the  Court  to  1820,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  one  year,  and  for  forty-six  years  was  Register  and 
Judge  of  Probate,  passing  from  one  to  the  other  in  1801 ; 
he  was  Postmaster  twenty-nine  years,  and  twenty-five  years 
a  Selectman  of  the  town.  For  a  portion  of  the  time  he  held 
nearly  all  these  offices  at  once,  —  that  is.  Clerk,  Judge  or 
Register  of  Probate,  Postmaster,  and  Selectman.  Sucli  an 
experience  qualified  him  to  prepare  acceptable  books  of 
forms,  and  their  merit  was  proved  by  their  extensive  use. 

John  Adams,  admitted  to  practice  in  1758,  speaking  of 
the  law  books  of  that  time,  in  his  Diary,  says,  "  At  this 
time  the  study  of  the  law  was  a  dreary  ramble.  Tlie  name 
of  Blackstone  had  not  been  heard,  whose  Commentaries, 
together  with  Sullivan's  Lectures,  and  Reeves's  History  of 
the  Law,  have  smoothed  the  path  of  the  student,  while  the 
long  career  of  Lord  Mansfield,  his  many  investigations  and 
decisions,  the  number  of  modern  reporters  in  his  time,  and 
a  great  number  of  writers  on  particular  branches  of  the 
science,  have  greatly  facilitated  the  acquaintance  of  it.  I 
was  desirous  of  seeking  the  law  as  well  as  I  could  in  its 
fountains,  and  I  obtained  as  much  knowledge  as  I  could  of 
Bracton,  Britton,  Fleta,  and  Glanville,  but  I  suffered  very 
much  for  want  of  books." 

Mr.  Willard,  in  his  address  to  the  Worcester  Bar  in  1829, 
says,  "  In  the  seventeenth  century  it  may  well  be  doubted 
whether  there  were  any  books  of  tlie  common  law  in  the 
country,  excepting  two  copies  of  the  following  works,  which 
the  Governor  and  assistants  ordered  to  be  imported  in  1(>47  ; 
viz.,  Coke's  Entries  and  Reports,  his  Commentaries  and 
Reading  on  Magna  Charta,  the  New  Terms  of  the  Law,  and 
Dalton's  Justice." 

Mr.  Rice,  who  established  himself  in  Winslow  in  1795, 
informed  me  tiiat  he  opened  an  office  in  Wiscasset  in  1794, 


MANASSEH    SMITH.  143 

at  which  time  Silas  Lee  and  Manasseh  Smith  were  in  prac- 
tice there.  He  says,  "  There  they  lived  and  there  they 
died.  Smith  had  formerly  been  a  minister  and  afterwards 
Clerk  of  the  Court  in  Massachusetts  or  New  Hampshire. 
He  accumulated  a  handsome  property,  and  left  a  large  family. 
I  believe  he  never  had  any  library  except  the  Statutes  of  the 
State  and  Blackstone.  He  wrote  so  bad  a  hand  that  it  was 
almost  impossible  to  read  it.  It  is  said  that  Judge  Paine, 
trying  to  read^.a  special  plea  of  his,  was  brought  to  a  stand, 
and  scolded  him  heartily.  Smith  said  he  had  been,  as  a 
minister,  in  the  habit  of  writing  fast,  which  led  him  to  be 
careless." 

Mr.  Smith  was  not  distinguished  as  a  lawyer  or  advocate, 
but  devoted  himself  to  office  business  with  assiduity,  intel- 
ligence, and  success.  He  gave  more  honor  and  service  to 
the  profession  by  his  four  sons,  all  of  whom  were  educated 
at  Harvard,  and  became  successful  and  honorable  practi- 
tioners ;  viz.,  Manasseh,  who  graduated  in  1800,  and  estab- 
lished himself  in  Warren,  where  he  died  a  worthy  and 
prominent  citizen  in  1822  ;  Joseph  Emerson,  1804,  a  re- 
spected practitioner  in  Boston,  and  died  there  in  1837  ;  his 
classmate.  Judge  Ware  of  the  United  States  District  Court 
of  Maine,  pursued,  for  a  time,  his  law  studies  with  him. 
Samuel  Emerson,  a  graduate  in  1808,  admitted  to  practice 
at  the  Sulfolk  bar  in  1812,  became  a  prominent  lawyer  at 
Wiscasset,  was  made  Chief  Justice  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas  in  1821,  and  in  1822  an  associate  of  the  new  coui-t, 
with  Chief  Justice  Whitman  at  its  head  ;  and  iii  1831  was 
elected  Governor  of  the  State,  which  office  he  held,  by  sub- 
sequent elections,  three  years. '  The  fourth  of  this  series 
of  honored  descendants  is  Edwin,  a  graduate  of  1811,  who, 

1  A  more  extended  notice  of  Governor  Smith  will  be  found  in  subsequent 
pages. 


144       MANASSEH  SMITH  :  DUDLEY  HUBBARD. 

after  discharging  the  duties  of  his  profession  many  years  m 
Warren,  enjoying  the  confidence  and  respect  of  the  commu- 
nity in  wliich  he  has  long  resided,  retired  witli  lionor  from 
the  har. 

Besides  these  sons,  Mr.  Smith  left  four  daughters ;  viz., 
Hannah,  who  married  Colonel  Samuel  Scavey  of  Wisconsin  ; 
Mary,  married  Ivory  Hovey  of  Berwick  ;  Lydia  and  Lucy, 
who  died  in  Wiscasset.  He  died  at  Wiscasset,  May  23, 
1823,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four. 

DUDLEY     HUBBARD. 

Dudley  Hubbard,  the  first  regularly  educated  lawyer 
who  settled  in  South  Berwick,  was  born  in  Ipswich,  Massa- 
chusetts, March  3,  170)3.  He  was  probably  descended  from 
Colonel  Nathaniel  Hubbard  ;  I  infer  this  because  the  Colonel 
married  a  daughter  of  Rev.  Samuel  Dudley  of  Exeter  ; — the 
two  names  uniting  in  Dudley  Hubbard,  seem  to  point  to 
such  an  origin,  and  l)eing  a  native  of  Ipswich,  long  the  res- 
idence of  the  Hubbard  family,  confirms  the  conjecture.  He 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  178(3,  in  the  class  with 
Timothy  Bigelow,  Alden  Bradford,  and  Chief  Justice  Parker. 
On  leaving  college,  he  immediately  commenced  the  study 
of  his  profession  witli  Daniel  Davis  in  Portland,  was  admit- 
ted to  the  hiiY  in  Cumberland  County  at  the  October  term, 
1789,  and  establislied  liimself  in  that  ])art  of  Berwick  which, 
in  1814,  was  incorporated  as  South  Berwick.  This  was 
a  beautiful  and  prosperous  village,  containing  an  unusual 
number  of  well-educated  and  cultivated  persons.  Ebenczer 
Sullivan,  a  brother  of  John  and  James,  was  tlion  in  practice 
there ;  he  was  brilliant  and  eloquent  like  his  brothers,  but 
irregular  and  desultory  in  his  lui))its  ;  lie  liad  served  in  the 
army  of  tlie  Revolution,  and  was  captain  of  one  of  the  two 
companies  raised  in  Soutli  Berwick  at  the  beginning  of  the 


DUDLEY   HUBBARD.  145 

war.  He  afterwards  commanded  a  company  on  the  western 
frontiers.  He  Avas  not  a  rival  to  stand  much  in  the  way  of 
an  intclUgcnt  and  persevering  attorney ;  Mr.  Hubbard, 
therefore,  soon  left  him  far  behind  in  the  race  for  business, 
and  had  the  whole  field  to  himself.  His  clients  multiijlied, 
many  of  them  from  Boston,  with  which  Berwick  was  much 
connected  in  trade,  and  his  engagements  rapidly  increased. 
He  was  for  many  years  leader  at  the  York  bar,  and  he  occa- 
sionally practiced  in  Cumberland.  He  was  an  eloquent 
advocate  ;  which,  united  -with  a  very  handsome  person, 
pleasing  address,  and  dignified  manners,  introduced  him  to 
an  extensive  and  lucrative  practice.  He  also  was  for  some- 
time attorney  for  the  county.  His  large  business  and  stand- 
ing at  the  bar  drew  numerous  students  to  his  office,  among 
whom  were  some  who  became  prominent  in  subsequent 
years  ;  viz.,  Edward  P.  Hayman,  Benjamin  Greene,  George 
W.  Wallingford,  William  A.  Hayes,  William  Lambert,  and 
Ether  Shepley,  late  Chief  Justice  of  Maine,  all  of  whom  but 
Judge  Shepley  are  dead. 

The  following  anecdote  will  give  an  impression  of  the 
imposing  appearance  of  Mr.  Hubbard  in  term  time.  The 
late  Judge  Dana  of  Eryeburg,  on  his  first  attendance  at  the 
court  in  York,  near  the  close  of  the  last  century;  took  a 
letter  of  introduction  to  Mr.  Hubbard ;  but  he  found  him 
so  formal  and  distant  in  his  demeanor  that  he  did  not  deliver 
it.  Dana  met  there  his  classmate,  the  late  Judge  Emery, 
who  had  just  csLablishcd  himseU'  at  Parsonslield,  and  was 
also  attending  his  lirst  term.  As  they  were  jogging  on 
together  toward  home,  on  horseback,  Dana  told  Emery  about 
his  letter  to  Hul)bard  ;  Emery  replied  that  lie  also  had  a 
similar  letter,  wliich  he  had  declined  presenting  for  the  same 
reason.  Tbis  may  have  been  the  reserve  of  modest  young 
men,  at  a  period  when  tbi;  intercourse   between   the  ehlor 


146  DUDLEY   HUBBARD :    GEORGE   STACY. 

and  junior  members  of  the  bar  was  much  less  free  than  at 
the  present  day. 

Mr.  Hubbard's  fine  conversational  powers  and  his  agreea- 
ble address  gave  him  the  entree  into  the  best  society,  not 
only  of  his  own  place  of  residence,  but  of  Portsmouth,  Bos- 
ton, and  of  Montreal,  where  he  went  occasionally  to  visit 
his  wife's  friends.  His  social  qualities  and  his  fondness  for 
society  drew  him  too  much  from  his  professional  duties  in 
the  latter  part  of  his  life,  in  consequence  of  whicli  his  pecu- 
niary resources  were  much  diminished,  while  his  expensive 
habits  did  not  follow  the  same  ratio  of  reduction.  He  also 
built  a  handsome  house,  the  one  which  Judge  Hayes  after- 
wards owned  and  occupied.  These  expenditures  outrun 
his  income,  and  he  became  embarrassed  and  despondent ; 
having  a  proud,  ambitious  spirit,  his  affairs  pressed  heavily 
upon  him,,and  he  died  suddenly,  April  26,  1816,  at  the  age 
of  lifty-three.  His  wife  was  Olivia  Dame,  whom  he  married 
at  Trois  Rivieres^  in  Canada.  She  was  educated. in  a  con- 
vent at  Montreal,  and  was  a  woman  of  great  personal  beauty 
and  accomplished  manners.  She  survived  her  husband  but 
a  few  years.  Mr.  Hubbard  left  one  daughter,  who  married 
Benjamin  Nason  of  South  Berwick,  and  their  daughter  is 
the  wife  of  Edward  E.  Bourne,  Jr.,  a  lawyer  in  Kennebunk, 
and  son  of  Judge  Bourne.  Thus  the  blood  of  Mr.  Hub- 
bard is  transmitted,  though  not  his  name. 

GEORGE     STACY. 

Another  York  lawyer,  cotemporary  of  Mr.  Hubbard,  was 
George  Stacy.  He,  too,  was  a  native  of  Ipswich,  l)orn  in 
1764,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1784.  After 
being  admitted  to  the  bar  lie  established  himself  at  Bidde- 
ford  in  178*J  or  the  year  before.  But  soon  getting  into  some 
disagrecaljle  entanglement  with  tlie  other  sex,  and  becoming 


GEORGE   STACY.  147 

dissipated,  he  was  obliged  to  make  a  sudden  departure  from 
that  place.  lie  afterwards  became  Consul  for  the  Isle  of 
France,  and  died  at  St.  Mary,  Georgia,  in  1808.  He  was  a 
tall  and  well-proportioned  man,  but  ac({uired  no  distinction 
as  a  lawyer  or  advocate  ;  and  his  name,  many  years  ago, 
passed  out  of  the  recollection  of  the  people  of  Saco. 

In  making  a  survey  of  the  lives  and  characters  of  the 
lawyers  who  have  moved  through  the  plane  of  our  history 
for  the  past  one  hundred  years,  we  are  deeply  impressed 
with  the  retributions  which  have  been  meted  out  according 
to  their  lives  and  acts.  To  the  industrious,  virtuous,  and 
honorable  practitioners,  —  honor,  success,  applause,  and 
friends  have  been  awarded ;  while  those  who  have  pursued 
the  phantoms  of  pleasure  and  indulged  in  the  social  vices 
of  the  period,  have  fallen  into  untimely  and  unhonored 
graves,  or  lived  to  be  objects  of  reprobation  and  contempt. 
Tiie  examples  of  each  class  are  numerous,  and  could  easily 
be  recalled  ;  but  it  were  an  invidious  task  to  exhibit  the 
dark  shadows  which  have  settled  heavily  on  many  of  our 
brethren.  The  moral  to  be  drawn  from  the  contrast  would  be 
useful  to  young  practitioners,  but  at  an  expense  of  wounded 
feeling  which  it  were  not  worth  while  to  incur. 


CHAPTER    XII. 


WILLIAM     SYMMES  —  PHINEAS     BRUCE  —  SILAS     LEE  —  JAMES 

BRIDGE  —  PRENTISS  MELLEN  —  SAMUEL  S.WILDE  —  GEORGE 

WARREN  —  AMOS    STODDARD  —  WILLIAM     HODGE  — 

THOMAS   RICE  —  JOSEPH    THOMAS  —  JOB   NELSON. 


WILLIAM     SYMMES.      179  0—1807. 

Among  the  distinguished  lawyers  who  came  into  practice 
in  the  State  in  1790,  were  William  Symmes,  at  Portland  ; 
James  Bridge,  at  Augusta;  and  Pliincas  Bruce,  at  Machias. 
Mr.  Symmes  came  with  a  i-cputation  ac(|uircd  as  a  member 
of  the  Convention  of  Massachusetts  which  adopted  the  Con- 
stitution of  the  United  States.  He  was  descended  from  the 
Rev.  Zacliariah  Symmes,  who  was  rector  of  tlie  Parish  of 
Dunstable  in  Bedfordshire,  England,  from  1625  to  1(333. 
In  the  latter  year  he  came  to  this  country,  and  was  imme- 
diately settled  in  Charlcstown,  Massachusetts,  where  he  died 
in  1071.  His  son  Zacliariah,  and  his  grandson  Thomas, 
were  ministers  in  Bradford.  The  subject  of  this  notice  was 
the  son  of  the  Rev.  Zacliariah  Symmes  of  Andover,  and  of 
the  sixth  generation  from  the  first  immigrant.  He  was  born 
in  1702,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1780,  and  after 
pursuing  his  regular  course  of  study,  was  admitted  to  prac- 
tice at  the  Essex  Bar.     Previous  to  this,  he  spent  some  time 


WILLIAM    SYMMES.  149 

in  Virginia  as  a  private  tutor,  during  which  he  kept  up  a 
correspondence  with  his  classmates  and  friends  :  his  letters 
arc  said  to  liave  l^een  interesting  and  instructive  :  a  friend 
who  had  seen  them  pronounced  them  beautiful.  In  1788 
he  was  a  member  of  the  Convention  of  Massachusetts  which 
adopted  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  in  the 
first  instance  took  part  in  opposition  to  it  under  the  instruc- 
tions of  his  constituents  ;  he  afterwards,  on  hearing  the 
arguments  of  Parsons  and  others,  changed  his  views,  and 
voted  in  favor  of  its  adoption,  for  which  he  received  the 
commendation  of  his  town.  He  came  to  Portland  in  1790, 
and  entered  at  once  upon  a  successful  practice,  and  took 
high  rank  at  the  bar ;  he  was  a  good  classical  scholar,  a 
sound  lawyer,  and  an  able  advocate.  His  manner  was 
formal  and  stately,  but  graceful.  One  of  his  students, — 
William  Freeman, — now  living  at  an  advanced  age  in  Cher- 
ryfield,  has  given  me  his  impressions  of  Mr.  Symmes,  which, 
coming  from  so  reliable  a  source,  arc  justly  apppreciated ; 
he  says,  "  The  personal  appearance  of  Mr.  Symmes  was 
stately  and  dignified.  He  was,  in  all  respects,  a  gentleman 
in  his  manners,  and  emphatically  one  of  the  old  school.  He 
was  affable  and  polite,  and  commanded  affection  as  well  as 
respect.  He  may  truly  be  said  to  have  been  one  of  the  most 
imposing  and  infiuential  men  at  that  time  in  Portland.  As 
a  lawyer  and  advocate  he  was  unsurpassed.  In  his  efforts 
as  a  speaker  there  was  perhaps  more  of  the  for  tiler  in  re, 
than  the  suaviler  in  modo.  He  always  touched  the  right 
string.  He  had  great  discriminating  powers  ;  no  one  brought 
out  the  root  and  truth  of  the  case  so  effectually  as  he  did, 
whether  at  the  bar  or  any  public  meeting.  Great  confidence 
was  felt  in  his  opinions  on  all  occasions,  and  especially  on 
legal  questions.  He  was  unquestionably  the  best  and  most 
reliable  lawyer  in  the  State  of  his  time."  He  then  speaks 
of  the  cloud  which  was  cast  upon  his  latter  days  by  tlie  use 


150  .  WILLIAM    SYMMES. 

of  intoxicating  drinks  ;  and  adds,  "  Often,  when  mellow 
with  brandy,  his  favorite  drink,  he  was  brilliant,  arid  threw 
more  light  on  a  subject  under  discussion  than  any  other 
speaker."  It  was  probably  under  the  influence  of  his  favorite 
beverage  that  a  scene  between  him  and  Judge  Thacher  took 
place.  Mr.  Symmcs  had  made  a  motion  to  the  court,  which 
he  was  zealously  arguing,  notwithstanding  frequent  inter- 
ruptions by  the  judge.  Thacher  at  last  became  impatient, 
and  said,  "  Mr.  SyuDues,  you  need  not  persist  in  arguing 
the  pohit,  for  I  am  not  a  court  of  errors,  and  cannot  give  a 
final  judgment."  "  I  know,"  replied  Symmes,  "  that  you 
can't  give  a  final  judgment,  but  as  to  your  not  being  a  court 
of  errors,  I  will  not  say." 

Mr.  Symmes  often  attended  the  courts  in  York,  as  did 
other  prominent  members  of  the  Cumberland  Bar,  and  was 
frequently  engaged  in  important  cases.  In  the  course  of  a 
trial  in  an  action  of  trespass  concerning  a  lot  of  boards, 
Symmes,  in  his  formal,  dignified  manner,  spoke  of  the 
"sanctity"  of  this  pile  of  lumber.  Ebenezer  Sullivan  and 
other  members  of  the  bar  were  amused  with  the  use  of  the 
word  in  that  connection,  and  Sullivan  wrote  an  impromptu, 
nearly  as  follows : 

"  Moses  of  old,  wlio  led  the  Jewish  race, 
Forbid  but  one,  and  that  the  holy  i)lace  ; 
Even  God  hiinsolf  forbade  that  wood  or  stone 
Should  liavo  the  honiafre  due  to  him  alone, 
But  Symines,  with  wisdom  greater  than  divine, 
Finds  sanctity  in  boards  and  slabs  of  pine." 

It  was  very  common  for  the  wits  of  tlie  l)ar,  at  that  time, 
to  amuse  themselves  in  writing  squibs  and  Ijon  mots  during 
the  tedious  processes  of  trials. 

Mr.  Hopkins,  a  cotemporary,  in  his  address  to  the  Cum- 
berland Bar  in  1833,  thus  speaks  of  Mr.  Symmes :  "  Mr. 
Symmes  was  a  well-read  lawyer,  and  an  able  and  eloquent 


WILLIAM    SYMMES  :    PHINEAS   BRUCE.  151 

advocate.  He  ranked  among  the  first  of  his  cotemporaries. 
He  was  also  a  fine  classical  scholar,  of  cultivated  literary 
taste,  and  uncommonly  learned  as  a  historian.  His  produc- 
tions in  the  newspapers  of  the  time  were  honorable  testimony 
to  his  literary  character,  particularly  a  series  of  numbers, 
entitled  '  Communications,'  al)out  the  year  1795,  in  de- 
fense of  the  common  law.  These  numl)ers  were  published 
in  the  principal  newspapers  throughout  the  Union.  Mr. 
Symmcs,  with  Judge  Thachcr  and  two  or  three  others,  ren- 
dered the  newspapers  of  that  period  very  interesting  by  their 
valuable  contributions."  It  may  not  be  improper  forme  to 
say  that  Mr.  Hopkins  himself,  as  also  Johonnot,  Mr.  Mellen, 
and  Solicitor  Davis,  were  among  the  contributors  who  made 
the  Portland  papers  of  that  day  exceedingly  interesting. 

Mr.  Symmes  was  never  married  ;  he  died  January  7, 
1807,  aged  forty-five.  He  had  a  brother,  a  physician  in 
New  Gloucester,  who  died  in  the  early  part  of  this  century, 
about  the  year  1804. 

PHINEAS     BRUCE.      1790  —  1809. 

Wc  come  now  to  speak  of  Phineas  Bruce  :  and  who,  you 
ask,  is  Phineas  Bruce  ?  No  wonder  that  liis  name  is  not 
remembered  by  a  living  member  of  the  bar  in  Maine  ;  yet, 
sixty  years  ago,  he  had  a  name  and  a  fame.  He  was  the 
first  lawyer  that  entered  into  practice  in  the  county  of 
Washington.  He  descended  from  George  Bruce,  who  set- 
tled in  Woburn,  Massachusetts,  about  1(').")0,  and  was  son  of 
George  Bruce,  born  in  1732,  and  Hannah  Lovctt,  born  in 
1738.  His  father  died  in  Leicester,  May  3,  1785,  and  his 
mother  at  Billerica,  December  18,  1821,  having  had  ten 
children,  six  sons  and  four  daughters.  Phineas  was  the 
second  child,  and  was  born  at  Mendon,  Massachusetts,  June 


152  PHINEAS   BRUCE:    SILAS  LEE. 

7, 1762.  He  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1786,  and  com- 
menced his  legal  studies  with  William  Caldwell  of  Rutland, 
ending  them  with  Benjamin  llitchborn  of  Boston.  After 
being  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  came  to  Machias,  in  1700. 
He  was  a  good  lawyer,  and  highly  esteemed  for  his  integrity, 
and  his  ability  to  investigate  and  analyze  any  su])ject  to 
which  he  a})plied  his  powers  ;  but  from  excessive  modesty 
and  diffidence  he  never  became  a  successful  advocate.  He 
represented  the  town  of  ]\Iachias  in  the  legislature  eight 
years,  from  1793,  and  was  the  only  representative  to  the 
General  Court  during  that  time  from  the  county.  In  1803, 
he  was  elected  to  the  Eighth  Congress,  which  commenced 
its  term  in  1804.  His  colleagues  from  Maine  were  Richard 
Cutts  from  York,  Pelcg  Wadsworth  from  Cumberland,  and 
Samuel  Thatcher  from  Lincoln.  But  a  violent  attack  of 
hypochondriasis,  to  which  he  had  been  subject,  occurring  at 
this  time,  prevented  his  taking  his  seat ;  and  before  the 
close  of  his  term  he  became  of  unsound  mind,  and  contin- 
ued insane  until  his  death,  which  took  place  in  Uxbridge, 
October  4,  ISOf). 

In  March,  1795,  he  married  Jane  Savage,  sister  of  the 
Hon.  James  Savage  of  Boston,  by  whom  he  had  five  sons 
and  one  daughter.  His  widow  died  in  Cambridge,  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1854,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six. 

SILAS      LEE. 

Silas  Lee  was  son,  and  the  eighth  child,  of  Hr.  Joseph 
Lee  of  Concord,  Massachusetts,  and  was  born  there  July 
23,  1760.  Mr.  Lee  pursued  his  ])reliminary  studies  under 
some  diOiculties  :  his  native  town  was  one  of  the  earliest 
battle  fields  of  the  Revolution,  and  letters  and  arms  alter- 
nately occupied  his  thoughts  ;  and  it  was  not  until  he  was 
twenty  years  old,  and  near  the  close  of  the  great  struggle. 


i 


SILAS    LEE.  loo 

that  lie  was  able  to  enter  Harvard  College,  from  which  he 
graduated  in  1784,  having  for  his  classmates  the  late  Profes- 
sor Abbott  of  Bowdoin  College,  and  Chief  Justice  Mellen. 
He  pursued  his  legal  studies  with  Judge  Thacher  at  Bidde- 
ford,  whose  niece.  Temperance  Hedge  of  Dennis,  Cape  Cod, 
he  afterwards  married.  He  established  himself  in  AViscasset 
in  1789,  and  having  the  whole  field  to  himself,  and  being  a 
skillful  lawyer,  he  soon  acquired  a  large  and  profitable  prac- 
tice. He  zealously  pursued  his  professional  business,  while 
at  the  same  time  he  engaged  in  political  life.  In  1794, 1798, 
and  1799,  he  represented  his  town  in  the  General  Court,  the 
first'  time  as  successor  to  Mr.  Gardiner,  who  was  wrecked 
and  drowned  in  1793.  In  1799  he  was  elected  to  Congress 
from  the  Eastern  District  to  succeed  Mr.  Parker,  who  had 
been  appointed  Marshal  of  the  district.  He  held  this  place 
one  term,  when,  in  1801,  he  was  selected  by  Mr.  Jefferson 
to  take  the  place  of  Daniel  Davis  as  United  States  Attorney 
for  Maine.  This  office  he  held  in  conjunction  with  that  of 
Judge  of  Probate,  to  which  he  was  appointed  in  1804  as 
successor  to  Judge  Bowman,  until  his  death,  which  took 
place  March  3,  1814,  at  the  age  of  fifty-four.  He  also  held 
the  office  of  chief  justice  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  1810, 
and  until  the  new  court  went  into  operation  in  1811.  He 
died  of  a  nervous  fever  caused  by  a  continued  and  excessive 
strain  upon  his  constitution  in  the  severe  duties  of  his  offices. 
From  1807  to  the  close  of  the  war  with  England  in  1815, 
during  the  non-intercourse  and  non-importation  laws,  the 
embargo  and  all  the  restrictive  measures  of  government,  the 
United  States  courts  were  crowded  with  business ;  large 
amounts  of  property  were  held  under  seizure  for  violation 
of  law,  and  the  novelty  and  importance  of  the  suits  ren- 
dered the  duties  of  the  District  Attorney  exceedingly  ardu- 
ous. 0])position  to  the  restrictive  measures  arrayed  against 
him  the  whole  commercial  interest,  which  employed  the  ablest 
11 


154  SILAS   LEE:    JAMES   BRIDGE. 

advocates  to  embarrass  and  foil  the  goverifment  officers. 
These  kept  the  attorney  in  a  state  of  constant  excitement 
and  exertion,  and  were  too  great  a  burden  for  Mr.  Lee  to 
bear ;  he  perished  in  the  midst  of  them,  a  martyr  to  official 
duty. 

Mr.  Lee  was  a  well-read  lawyer,  was  quick  and  full  of 
energy,  and,  as  one  of  his  cotcmporaries  informed  me,  few 
persons  more  fully  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  public  or 
were  more  sincerely  mourned.  He  was  a  good  special  pleader, 
but  a  poor  advocate  ;  in  his  address  to  the  jury  he  was  long, 
prosy,  and  tedious  ;  but,  notwithstanding  this  defect,  he  had 
a  very  large  business,  which  may  be  accounted  for  by- his 
good  sense  and  ability  as  a  lawyer,  his  genial  disposition  and 
gentlemanly  manners,     tic  left  no  cliildrcn. 

Mr.  Rice,  a  cotemporary  of  Mr.  Lee,  in  a  letter  to  me  a 
short  time  before  his  death,  made  the  following  remarks : 
"  Mr.  Lee  was  a  good  lawyer,  but  was  too  tedious  in  his  long 
speeches,  greatly  attached  to  special  pleading,  and  would, 
in  drawing  a  plea  under  the  statute  of  limitations,  occupy 
a  sheet  or  two  of  closely  written  paper.  He  had  a  large 
business,  made  a  good  deal  of  money,  but  died  poor." 

JAMES     BIMDGE.       171)0—1834. 

About  the  same  time  that  Mr.  Lee  settled  in  Wiscasset, 
James  Bridge  commenced  practice  in  Augusta,  then  a  part 
of  Lincoln  County.  Ho  was  the  son  of  Edmund  Bridge, 
who  was  born  in  Lexington,  Massachusetts,  in  1739. 

The  Bridges  are  of  ancient  lineage  ;  they  go  back  to  clas- 
sical times ;  we  learn  that  a  contest  for  some  time  existed  in 
Italy  between  the  houses  of  Pont'i  and  Cattali  as  to  tlie  an- 
tiquity of  their  families  ;  the  former  contended  that  the 
Bridifcs  were  aI)ove  the  Canals,  the  latter,  that  Canals  ex- 
isted befure  Bridges.     Our  classical  friends  need  not  be  told 


^•^ 


HON.  JAMES    BRIDGE 


AT    THE    AGE    OF  35 


J  U^V-t^^<^ 


ifi-z^i>^ 


JAMES    BRIDGE.  155 

that  the  Italian  names  Ponti  and  Canali  are  interpreted  in 
Englisli  by  Bridge  and  Canal. 

The  plain  English  family  of  Bridge,  their  first  coming  to 
America,  and  the  descent  of  James  Bridge  from  the  Amer- 
ican ancestor,  are  fnlly  spoken  of  in  a  notice  of  Sheriff 
Bridge,  which  is  contained  in  another  part  of  our  book. 
His  mother  was  Phebe  Bowman,  by  whom  he  was  connected 
with  Judge  Bowman  of  Lincoln  County.  His  father  was 
Sheriff  of  Lincoln  from  1781  to  1815,  a  period  of  thirty-four 
years.  James,  liis  eldest  son,  was  born  in  Dresden,  Septem- 
ber 21,  1765.  He  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1787,  a 
classmate  of  John  Quincy  Adams,  Judge  Cranch,  Dr.  Heze- 
kiah  Packard,  father  of  Professor  Packard  of  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege, and  the  late  Judge  Putnam  of  Massachusetts.  He  was 
the  chum  of  Mr.  Adams  and  a  fellow-student  at  law  with 
him  in  the  office  of  Theophilus  Parsons  at  Newburyport. 
On  being  admitted  to  practice  in  1790,  he  first  opened  an 
office  atBucksportonthe  Penobscot,  but  soon  after  removed 
to  xVugusta,  where  he  ever  after  lived. 

He  entered  on  the  profession  with  the  reputation  of  being 
a  good  scholar,  and  he  soon  acquired  that  of  being  a  good 
lawyer.  The  time  was  remarkably  favorable  for  a  prac- 
titioner. General  Lithgow  was  the  only  lawyer  who  occu- 
pied that  field,  and  he  was  soon  disabled  by  disease.  Land 
titles  were  then  in  great  confusion  ;  large  proprietors, — ab- 
sentees,—  had  neglected  their  estates  ;  many  persons  were 
coming  into  tlic  district,  and  not  knowing  where  to  apply  to 
make  purchases,  had  entered  upon  favorable  locations,  and 
pitched  their  habitations  without  title.  Vexing  questions 
were  constantly  arising  in  regard  to  boundaries  as  well  as 
to  rights  of  title  and  possession.  Into  the  midst  of  this  prac- 
tice Mr.  Bridge  entered  with  intelligence,  zeal,  and  activity, 
acquired  the  confidence  of  landed  proprietors  and  of  the 
community,  and   became   the  leader  at  the  bar.     It  was 


156  .lAMKS    IHUDGE, 

particularly  as  the  agent  and  attorney  of  the  Proprietors 
of  the  Kennebec  Purchase,  that  his  business  was  extended, 
and  a  large  property  accumulated.  He  associated  with  him 
in  practice  a  young  lawyer  who  had  been  his  student,  then 
just  coming  on  the  stage,  Reuel  Williams,  as  a  partner,  who 
laid,  in  this  connection,  the  foundation  of  a  fortune  and 
political  distinction. 

Mr.  Bridge  found  his  partner  so  able  to  take  charge  of 
the  business  that  he  gradually  retired  from  it;  and  although 
the  partnership  continued  in  name  for  thirty  years,  yet  Mr. 
Bridge  did  very  little  in  it  after  1810  ;  he  had  a  disrelish  for 
courts,  his  circumstances  were  easy,  and  he  was  sharing 
considerable  profits  from  the  ofiice  for  the  benefit  of  having 
introduced  a  young  friend  on  a  most  successful  career,  and 
for  his  owiiioccasional  attendance. 

Mr.  Bridge  was  so  much  engrossed  by  professional  duties 
for  the  first  twenty  years  of  his  practice,  that  he  did  not 
engage  in  political  life  ;  in  1799  he  represented  his  town  in 
the  legislature,  probably  with  a  view  to  eifect  the  establish- 
ment of  Kennebec  County,  which  was  separated  from  Lin- 
coln in  that  year.  He  was  appointed  tlie  first  Judge  of 
Probate  of  the  county,  which  he  resigned  in  1804,  and  was 
succeeded  by  Judge  Daniel  Cony.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  Executive  Council  of  Massachusetts  in  1818,  and  a  del- 
egate to  the  convention  which  })rcparcd  the  Constitution  of 
Maine  in  1819,  and  one  of  the  committee  to  draft  that  in- 
strument. 

Judge  Bailey  of  Wiscasset  observed  to  me  that  when  he 
came  to  Maine  in  1794,  "  Mr.  Bridge  was  at  the  head  of  the 
bar  in  Augusta,  and  his  practice  was  very  extensive,  especially 
in  landed  matters."  He  also  said  of  jSIr.  Bridge's  fatlier,  that 
"  he  was  an  excellent  officer  and  much  respected.  He  had 
a  long  range  to  attend  to  ;  all  the  country  now  comprised  in 
the  counties  of  Lincoln,  Kennebec,  Somerset,  and  part  of 


JAMES    BRIDGE.  157 

Waldo  was  then  in  one  county."  And  this  was  before  the 
counties  of  Sagadahoc,  Androscoggin,  and  Knox  were  taken 
off. 

He  was  appointed  in  1820  one  of  the  joint  commissioners 
of  Massachusetts  and  Maine,  "  to  adjust  the  personal  con- 
cerns of  the  two  States,"  and  to  make  division  of  tlie  public 
lands,  Tbe  conunissioners,  consisting  of  Levi  Lincoln, 
George  Bliss,  and  Silas  Holman  of  Massachusetts,  and 
James  Bridge,  Benjamin  J.  Porter,  and  Lathrop  Lewis  of 
Maine,  made  their  report  concerning  the  personal  rights  in 
May,  1822,  which  they  declared  to  be  a  full  and  final  adjust- 
ment of  all  personal  property  and  of  lial)ilities  and  claims 
between  tlie  two  States.  December  28,  1822,  they  made  a 
report  "  on  the  division  of  the  public  lands  under  the  act 
of  separation,"  a  long  and  able  document,  and  they  made  a 
final  report  of  their  doings  in  ]\Iay,  1823.  Judge  Bridge 
was  also  appointed  in  1820  with  Albert  Newhall  and  William 
Swan,  a  commissioner  to  investigate  the  doings  of  certain 
banks  whicli  had  become  bankrupt. 

The  office  business  of  this  gentleman  was  so  extensive 
and  lucrative  that  it  occupied  his  time  too  much  to  enable 
liim  to  make  a  distinguished  figure  as  an  advocate,  yet  he 
was  an  easy,  graceful  speaker,  and  capable  of  taking  a  high 
position  in  that  character  if  he  bad  given  attention  to  it. 
Not  long  after  his  connection  with  ^Ir.  Williams,  he  gradu- 
ally withdrew  from  the  courts  and  practice,  and  found  suffi- 
cient employment  as  President  of  one  of  the  Augusta  Banks 
and  in  the  management  of  his  private  affairs.  He  was  em- 
inently a  practical  man,  and  by  a  steady  application  to  the 
duties  of  private  life  he  secured  to  himself  a  competency, 
of  which  his  children  after  his  death,  in  18o4,  became 
partakers.  A  persistent  solicitor  for  a  society  once  was 
urging  witlj  great  earnestness  his  su1»scription  to  some  object, 
and  took  occasion  to  say  tliat  a  liberal   donation  would  bear 


158  JAMES   BRIDGE. 

honorable  testimony  to  his  generosity.  Mr.  Bridge  heard 
him  through,  then  coolly  replied  that  he  could  not  agree 
with  him,  for  from  his  experience  in  life,  which  had  been 
considerable,  he  had  found  that  people  were  respected  more 
for  what  they  had  than  for  what  they  gave  away. 

This  was  not  quite  so  good  as  Douglass  Jerrold's  reply. 
A  not  very  deserving  character  had  been  frequently  aided 
by  subscription,  and  an  appeal  was  again  made.  "  Well," 
said  Jerrold,  "  how  much  does  he  want  this  time  ?  "  "  Why, 
just  a  four  and  two  naughts  1  think  will  make  him  straight." 
"  Well,"  said  he,  "  put  me  down  for  one  of  the  naughts." 
Another  reply  of  Jerrold's  is  equally  good.  Tom  Dibbin 
said  to  him  the  first  time  he  saw  him,  "  Young  man,  have 
you  sufficient  confidence  in  me  to  lend  me  a  guinea  ?  "  "  O 
yes,"  said  Jerrold,  "  I  have  the  conlidcnce,  but  not  the 
guinea." 

Judge  Bridge  married  Hannah,  a  daughter  of  Judge 
Joseph  North  of  Augusta,  who  died  before  him,  leaving  the 
reputation  of  great  benevolence  of  character  and  most  pleas- 
ing manners.     .Their  children  were  as  follows :  , 

1.  Edmund  Theodore,  born  in  1799,  graduated  at  Bow- 
doin  College  in  1818.  lie  studied  law  and  opened  an  office 
in  Augusta,  was  sometime  United  States  Mail  Agent  for 
New  England,  moved  to  New  York,  opened  an  offiico,  and 
there  died  in  1854,  aged  fifty-five,  lie  left  two  daughters, 
and  had  a  son  in  the  practice  of  law  in  New  York,  who  is 
dead. 

2.  Margaret,  Ijorn  about  1801,  married  a  son  of  General 
North,  aid  of  the  Baron  Steuben.  She  is  now  a  widow  re- 
siding in  the  city  of  New  York. 

3.  James,  born  about  1803,  merchant  of  Augusta.  He 
married  a  daughter  of  Hon.  Reucl  Williams,  and  is  living 
in  Augusta. 

4.  Horatio,  born  1805,  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College  in 


JAMES   BRIDGE  :    OLIVER   LEONARD.  159 

1825,  studied  law  and  opened  an  office  in  Augusta,  and  is 
now  "  Chief  of  Bureau  of  Clothing  and  Provision,"  at 
Washington. 

5  and  G.  William  and  Mary,  twins,  born  in  1808.  Mary 
is  dead,  and  AVilliam  is  now  attached  to  the  Navy  Yard  in 
Charlestown,' Massachusetts. 

7.  Hannah,  born  in  1810,  married  Daniel  Williams,  a 
lawyer  in  Augusta,  Maine. 


The  lion.  Jacob  McGaw  of  Bangor  has  kindly  furnished 
me  the  following  skftcli  of  one  of  his  cotemporaries. 

OLIVER      LEONARD.       17  9  6  —  1828. 

Although  the  ancestry  of  any  citizen  of  the  United  States 
exerts  very  little  influence  upon  his  reputation  or  useful- 
ness in  the  period  of  life  in  which  he  is,  or  ought  to  be, 
most  beneficial  to  society ;  yet  all  of  us  are  so  constituted, 
that  we  feel  satisfaction  in  being  able  to  reckon  honorable 
names  among  our  kindred,  whether  they  be  dead  or  remain 
in  full  life. 

^  (Jliver  Leonard  was  not  accustomed  to  recur  frequently 
to  his  lineage,  yet  his  relatives  reckon  their  descent  from  the 
noble  family  of  Leonard,  Lord  Dacre,  who  nourished  iu  the 
twelfth  century,  at  Fontypool,  in  England. 

In  1052,  James  Leonard,  with  his  brother,  Henry  Leon- 
ard, sons  of  Thomas  Leonai^d,  left  Pontypool,  and  came  to 
Taunton,  JMassachusetts,  where  James  settled,  and  there 
established  the  ilrst  manufactory  of  iron  that  ever  existed 
in  America.  Henry  settltMl  in  the  neighboring  town  of 
Raynhani,  where  he  remained  a  few  years,  and  then  re- 
moved to  New  Jersey.  From  these  two  gentlemen,  the 
genealogy   of  all   the   families  of  Leonard  in  the  United 


160  OLIVER   LEONARD. 

States  may  be  traced.  Men  of  considerable  eminence  in 
the  learned  ])rofessions,  and  other  dignified  conditions  in 
lite,  have  existed  in  nearly  every  generation  of  this  name, 
since  the  arrival  of  the  two  brothers  before  spoken  of. 

Oliver  Leonard,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  a  son  of 
Jonathan  Leonard,  who  descended  from  the  aforenamed 
James  Leonard,  and  was  born  at  Norton,  Massachusetts,  in 
February,  1764.  He  entered  Brown  University,  Providence, 
Rhode  Island,  1783,  and  graduated  in  1787.  While  Mr. 
Leonard  was  an  undergraduate  in  college,  the  insurrection 
in  Massachusetts,  commonly  known  as  "  Shays's  Rebel- 
lion," occurred.  The  patriotism  of  the  scholar  was  too 
ardent  to  permit  even  the  honors  and  ])enefits  of  college  to 
detain  him  from  joining  the  governmental  troops  uyder 
General  Lincoln,  and  performing  the  duties  of  adjutant  as 
long  as  his  services  could  be  useful  to  the  Commonwealth. 
His  fine  personal  appearance  and  good  horsemanship  in- 
duced poorly  informed  spectators  to  suppose  that  he  was 
colonel  of  a  regiment,  and  to  apply  to  him  the  title  which 
that  rank  confers  on  its  lawful  possessor.  In  his  after  life 
he  was  always  addressed  by  the  style  or  title  of  Colonel 
Leonard. 

Shays's  Rebellion  having  been  quelled,  Mr.  Leonard 
returned  to  the  university,  rejoined  his  class,  and  graduated 
with  it  in  good  standing.  Embarrassment  in  all  kinds  of 
business  at  that  time  presented  to  young  men  great  difficul- 
ties in  making  choice  of  the  most  judicious  j)ursnits  for 
usefulness  and  prosperity  in  after  life.  An  olTer  by  Major 
Thomas  Fobes  to  enter  into  partnership  in  trade  with  him, 
at  Norton,  was  accepted  by  Mr.  Leonard,  but  continued  only 
about  one  year,  when  it  was  dissolved,  and  a  pupilage  as 
student  at  law,  under  the  direction  of  Stephen  Dexter,  Esq., 
at  Newport,  Rhode  Island,  was  commenced  ;  and  with  the 


OLIVER   LEONARD.  161 

exception  of  a  short  time  in  Judge  Padelford's  ofiice,  at 
Taunton,  pursued  until  his  admission  to  the  bar  in  IT'Jl. 

VVliile  living  at  Newport,  he  became  acquainted  with 
Mrs.  Sarah  Fletcher,  and  was  married  to  her  about  the 
time  he  commenced  the  joractice  of  his  profession.  Mrs. 
Fletcher  was  tlie  widow  of  an  English  surgeon  in  the  Amer- 
ican Revolution.  She  had,  in  her  own  right,  an  anniiity  of 
one  hundred  guineas.  With  this  fund  to  connect  with  pro- 
fessional earnings,  he  established  himself,  and  opened  a  law 
oflice  at  Taunton,  the  shire  town  of  Bristol  County  in  the 
Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts.  At  this  place  he  contin- 
ued to  reside  until  179G,  sharing,  so  far  as  he  might  with 
some  other  older  and  more  lirnily  established  lawyers  than 
himself,  in  the  business  of  the  county. 

About  this  time,  some  resolute  and  industrious  young 
men  who  lived  in  the  region  of  Mr.  Leonard's  nativity,  but 
who  had  just  begun  to  acquire  property,  determined  to 
remove  to  Orrington,  Maine,  which  was  then  principally  in 
the  state  of  nature.  Mr.  Leonard  being  favorably  impressed 
in  })rospect  of  the  future  importance  of  the  territory  bor- 
dering on  Penol)scot  River,  concluded  to  remove  from 
Taunton,  and  settle  in  Orrington,  with  the  hoj)e  and  cxpec 
tation  of  participating  lil)erally  in  the  reward  of  well 
directed  efforts  for  development  of  its  capabilities  of  pros- 
pective wealth  and  honor.  Pursuant  to  this  determination, 
he  purchased  a  tract  of  land  on  which  the  making  of  a 
farm  had  been  conunenced,  in  that  j)art  of  Orrington  which 
now  constitutes  the  town  of  iirewer,  and  there  conducted, 
through  twenty  years,  bis  j)rofessional  labors.  There  was 
no  disappointment  of  hoj)es  concerning  the  rapid  increase  of 
population  in  ( hrington  and  circumjacent  territory ;  but 
the  residents  were  generally  poor  men.  This  characteristic 
produced  numerous  successful  applications  for  pecuniary 
credit.     Large   profits   were   freely  promised  to  creditors. 


162  OLIVER   LEONARD. 

which  very  commonly  failed  of  fulfillment.  Suits  at  law  for 
collection  of  debts  became  numerous  in  proportion  to  the 
population.  Mr.  Leonard  was  the  only  lawyer,  during  live 
years,  who  lived  within  the  limit  that  now  constitutes  the 
county  of  Penobscot,  and  enjoyed  a  large  amount  of  prac- 
tice in  the  department  mentioned.  In  1802,  two  other 
lawyers  commenced  the  business  of  their  profession  in  the 
adjoining  town  of  Bangor,  and  partook  largely  of  business 
that  before  had  been  performed  by  Mr.  Leonard  exclusively. 
The  fortune  of  Mrs.  Leonard,  united  to  her  husband's  pro- 
fessional income,  induced  him  to  engage  too  largely  in  the 
purchase  and  manufacture  of  lumber,  together  with  some 
other  oj)erations  that  were  entirely  foreign  to  the  course  of 
his  previous  education  and  pursuits ;  which  proved  unfortu- 
nate in  their  results. 

The  people  of  Orrington  having  become  sufficiently  nu- 
merous to  be  entitled  to  a  representative  in  the  legislature  of 
Massachusetts,  elected  Mr.  Leonard  to  that  honorable  office 
in  1798,  and  he  was  re-elected  the  five  following  years. 
Flattered  by  the  confidence  and  respect  thus  manifested  by 
his  townsmen,  he  discliarged  the  duties  of  the  office  prompt- 
ly and  with  fidelity.  Having  undertaken  to  perform  func- 
tions of  such  great  and  differing  natures,  he  could  jiot  be 
expected  to  excel  in  his  profession.  Yet  he  remained  at 
Orrington  in  the  prosecution  of  a  small  portion  of  business 
until  after  the  close  of  the  war  between  the  United  States 
and  England,  which  was  commenced  in  1812. 

Having  disposed  of  the  estate  tliat  had  belonged  to  liim 
in  Orrington  (now  Brewer),  he  removed  to  Bangor  in  1817 
with  the  intention  of  employing  his  time  in  more  constant 
application  to  professional  j)iirsuits  than  he  liad  done  in 
several  of  tlie  preceding  years.  But  he  had  l)ecome  somucli 
weaned  from  study  and  the  routine  of  business,  that  few 


Avi^ 


.#^ 


A^ed  jOycajs. 


OLIVER   LEONARD  :    PRENTISS   MELLEN.  163 

clients  were  inclined  to  patronize  him ;  and  this,  too,  at  a 
time  wlien  increased  income  was  very  desirable. 

A  grievous  illustration  of  the  maxim,  "  Solitary  woes  are 
rare,"  now  occurred,  which  served  to  crush  the  aspirations 
of  Mr.  Leonard  for  the  comforts  that  a  pecuniary  compe- 
tency affords  to  persons  who  have  been  accustomed  to  such 
enjoyments  from  their  infancy  up  to  the  border  of  old  age. 

It  so  happened  that  now,  when  the  principal  dependence 
of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Leonard  for  their  ease  and  even  sustenance 
in  after  life,  was  the  regular  and  prompt  payment  of  her 
annuity,  the  base  of  the  fund  on  which  that  annuity,  together 
with  other  annuities,  rested,  became  the  subject  of  a  suit  in 
Chancery.  Payment  of  the  annuities  was  thereby  suspended 
for  nearly  or  quite  twenty  years. 

All  superfluities  in  household  affairs  ceased  to  be  attaina- 
ble by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Leonard,  and  the  comforts  of  life  be- 
came fewer  from  month  to  month  until  absolute  poverty 
overtook  them,  instead  of  the  abundance  which  they  had 
previously  enjoyed.  His  splendid  figure  bent,  his  cheerful 
and  handsome  face  became  gradually  gloomy,  and  his  con- 
versation lost  most  of  its  charms  under  his  adversity.  In- 
finite wisdom  protracted  his  depressed  life  until  January, 
1828,  when  his  earthly  existence  ended,  and  his  spiritual, 
eternal  state  commenced. 

At  the  time  of  Mr.  Leonard's  death  the  suit  in  Chancery 
had  not  been  closed,  but  Mrs.  Leonard  lived  to  enjuy, 
through  one  or  two  years,  the  fruits  of  a  decree  entirely 
favorable  to  her  claims  and  rights. 

PRENTISS     MELLEN.       1  7  '.1  2  —  1  8  -J  0  . 

Prentiss  Mellen,  the  next  lawyer  wlio  settled  in  Maine, 
was  the  eighth  of  the  nine  children  of  the  Rev.  John  ^ireUcn 
of  Sterling,  Massachusetts,  and  was  born  in  that  town  Octo- 


lt)4  PRENTI.'^^i    MELLEN. 

ber  11,  17<)4.  His  mother  was  Rebecca  Prentiss,  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  John  Prentiss  of  Lancaster,  from  which  family 
his  Christian  name  was  derived.  His  grandfather  was 
Thomas  ]N[ellen,  a  fiirmer  of  Hopkinton  in  Massachusetts. 
His  father  was  born  there  31arch  14,  1722,  graduated  at 
Harvard  College  in  1741,  and  having  served  long  and  faith- 
fully in  the  ministerial  ortice  at  Sterling  and  Hanover,  in 
the  Old  Colony,  he  died  at  Reading,  Massachusetts,  in  1807, 
aged  eighty-hve. 

His  elder  brother  Henry  and  himself  were  fitted  for  col- 
lege by  their  father,  and  entered  Harvard  together  in  1780, 
from  wliich  they  took  their  degree  in  1784,  in  the  same  class 
with  John  Abbott,  long  a  professor  in  Bowdoin  College  ; 
Silas  Lee,  a  distinguished  lawyer  in  Wiscasset  ;  and  others 
who  have  taken  honorable  positions  in  society.  Henry, 
In'illiant,  witty,  an  attribute  of  the  Prentiss  stock,  somewhat 
wayward,  but  beloved  by  all  who  knew  him,  established 
himself  in  the  profession  of  law  at  Dover,  New  Hampshire, 
where  he  died  in  1809.  Prentiss  spent  a  year  after  his 
graduation,  in  Barnstable,  as  a  private  tutor  in  the  family 
of  Josc})!!  Otis  ;  he  pursued  his  legal  studies  in  the  same 
place  with  the  eccentric  lawyer,  Shearjashub  Bourne,  and 
was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Taunton  in  October,  1788.  On 
that  occasion,  in  conformity  with  an  ancient  custom,  he 
treated  the  court  and  bar  with  half  a  pail  of  punch.  His 
own  version  of  this  treat  was  as  follows  :  "  According  to  the 
fashion  of  that  day,  on  the  great  occasion,  I  treated  the 
judge  and  all  the  lawyers  with  about  half  a  pail  of  j^utu-h, 
which  treating'  aforesaid  was  commonly  called  "  the  colt's 
tail." 

Mr.  McUen  commenced  jn-acLice  in  his  native  town,  but 
removed  in  eight  months  to  Bridgewater,  where  he  con- 
tinued until  November,  1791.  Not  meeting  with  the  success 
ho  desired,  he   again   chaiifred   liis   domicil,   and  s})ent  the 


PRENTISS   MELLEN.  165 

winter  and  spring  witli  his  brother  Henry  in  Dover.  From 
that  place,  in  Jnly,  1792,  he  removed  to  Biddeford  in  this 
State,  by  the  advice  of  his  firm  and  constant  friend,  the  late 
Judge  Thacher,  who  was  then  a  Representative  in  Congress 
from  Maine.  Here  he  commenced  that  sphere  of  success- 
ful and  honorable  practice  which  placed  him  at  the  head  of 
the  bar  in  Maine,  and  at  the  head  of  its  highest  judicial 
tribunal. 

His  beginning  in  Biddeford  was  of  the  most  humble  kind, 
and  may  give  an  idea  of  what  professional  men  had  to  en- 
dure in  that  day.  He  thus  described  it  to  me  :  "  I  opened 
my  office  in  one  of  old  Squire  Hooper's  front  chambers,  in 
which  were  then  arranged  three  beds  and  half  a  table  and 
one  chair.  My  clients  had  the  privilege  of  sitting  on  some 
of  the  beds.  In  this  room  I  slept,  as  did  also  sundry  trav- 
elers frequently,  the  house  being  a  tavern." 

Wliat  his  library  was,  may  be  inferred  from  tliis  humble 
office  apparatus.  The  population  of  Biddeford  did  not  then 
exceed  eleven  hundred,  and  that  of  the  whole  county,  which 
embraced  a  large  ])art  of  Oxford,  was  about  twenty-eight 
thousand  ;  all  served  by  three  attornies  ;  viz.,  Dudley  Hub- 
bard of  Berwick,  and  Messrs.  Thacher  and  Mellen  at  Bidde- 
ford. There  was  then  one  term  of  the  Common  Pleas  Court 
held  at  Biddeford  ;  and  one  term  of  the  Supreme  Court  at 
York,  for  the  year,  in  that  county,  and  one  term  of  the 
Supreme  Court  in  each  of  the  counties  of  Cumberland  and 
Lincoln  for  Jury  trials  ; — which  was  all  the  favor  the  highest 
judicial  tribunal  was  then  permitted  to  extend  to  tliis  Dis- 
trict. The  /aw  term  for  Maine  was  held  in  Boston,  and  the 
records  kept  there.  I'iie  whole  j)o[)ulation  of  tiie  State  was 
then  about  one  hundred  thousand,  (.iovernor  Sullivan  had 
formerly  lived  and  practiced  in  Biddeford,  but  had  removed 
to  Boston,  and  was,  at  the  time  we  are  speaking  of,  Attorney 
General  of  Massachusetts. 


166  PRENTISS   MELLEN. 

From  180-1,  until  his  appointment  as  chief  justice  in  1820, 
Mr.  Mellen  practiced  in  every  county  in  the  State,  and  was 
engaged  in  every  prominent  cause.  In  1806,  his  practice 
in  Cumberland  being  extensive,  he  removed  to  Portland, 
where  his  professional  engagements  had  become  numerous^ 
and  where  a  very  large  commercial  liusiness  was  transacted. 
His  competitors  were  men  of  high  legal  attainments,  of 
great  natural  abilities,  and  able  and  eloquent  as  advocates. 
Daniel  Davis  had  just  before  removed  to  Boston  ;  there  re- 
mained,— the  accomplished  Parker,  afterwards  chief  Justice 
of  Massachusetts  ;  the  patient  and  laborious  Chase,  and  the 
scholarly  Symmes,  both  of  whom,  by  their  untimely  death, 
opened  a  wider  field  for  the  new  comers ;  the  grave  and 
cautious  Whitman,  afterwards  chief  justice  of  Maine;  the 
sensible  and  acute  Longfellow,  and  the  ardent  Hopkins ;  all 
of  them  residents  of  Portland,  and  ornaments  of  the  Cum- 
berland Bar.  He  also  found  able  rivals  in  other  parts  of 
the  State,  in  the  adroit  and  eloquent  Wilde,  late  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  Massachusetts ;  the  sagacious  Silas  Lee ;  and 
Orr,  shrewd,  skillful,  and  prompt.  "  His  most  constant  op- 
ponent," said  Professor  Greenleaf,  "  was  Judge  Wilde  ;  their 
forensic  warfare,  adopted  by  tacit  consent,  was  to  place  the 
cause  on  its  merits,  produce  all  the  facts,  and  fight  the  battle 
in  open  field."  He  adds,  "  A  generous  warfare  like  this 
could  not  but  create  a  generous  friendship.  They  have 
often  l)een  heard  to  speak  of  each  other  and  of  those  scenes 
in  animating  terms." 

To  take  the  lead  among  such  men,  in  their  chosen  pro- 
fession, required  and  proved  Mr.  Mellen  to  have  possessed 
more  than  ordinary  powers.  It  was  often  said,  previous  to 
the  separation  of  Maine  from  Massachusetts,  that  the  Bar 
of  Cuml^crland  was  the  best  in  the  commonwealth.  And 
certainly  that  must  have  l»ccn  a  bar  of  extraordinary  qual- 
ity, wliich  could  at  one   time  Ijoast  of  lawyers  superior  to 


PRENTISS   MELLEX.  167 

Parker,  .Symmcs,  Mellon,  Chase,  Whitman,  Longfellow,  Em- 
ery ;  and  the  juniors,  Orr,  Fessendon,  Greenleaf,  Davies,  who 
came  in  as  the  others  passed  to  the  bench  or  to  a  higher 
tribunal. 

,  At  the  bar,  Mr.  Mellen's  manner  was  fervid  and  impas- 
sioned ;  his  countenance  lighted  up  with  l)rilliancy  and  in- 
telligence ;  his  perceptions  were  rapid,  and  his  mind  leaped 
to  conclusions  to  which  other  minds  more  slowly  traveled, 
and,  as  a  consequence,  he  was  sometimes  obliged  to  yield 
his  suddenly  formed  opinions  to  more  mature  reflection.  On 
one  occasion  Chief  Justice  Parsons  remarked  to  him  when 
he  was  ardently  pressing  a  point,  "  You  are  aware,  Mr.  Mel- 
len,  that  there  are  authorities  on  the  other  side."  "  Yes, 
yes,  your  Honor,  but  they  are  all  in  my  favor." 

He  identified  himself  with  the  cause  of  his  client,  and 
never  for  a  moment  neglected  it,  or  failetf  to  improve  every 
opportunity  in  his  opponent's  weakness  or  errors,  to  secure 
a  victory.  His  voice  was  musical,  his  person  tall  and  im- 
posing, and  his  manner  fascinating. 

His  life  was  not  entirely  absorbed  by  his  profession.  In 
1808  and  1809,  and  again  in  1817,  he  was  chosen  a  member 
of  the  Executive  Council  in  Massachusetts  ;  and  in  181G,an 
elector  at  large  for  President.  In  1817,  while  he  held  the 
ofhce  of  councillor,  he  was  chosen  a  senator  in  Congress 
from  Massachusetts,  with  Harrison  Gray  Otis  for  his  col- 
league. This  situation  he  held  until  Maine  was  organized 
as  a  separate  State,  when,  in  July,  1820,  he  was  appointed 
chief  justice  of  its  Supreme  Court.  The  same  year  he  re- 
ceived the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws  from  l)oth 
Harvard  and  Uowdoin  Colleges. 

He  continued  to  discharge  the  laborious  duties  of  chief 
justice  with  singular  fidelity  and  ability  until  October,  1834, 
when,  having  attained  the  age  of  seventy,  he  became  con- 
stitutionally dis(iualilied  for  the  oftice.     On  the  bench  his 


168  PRENTISS   MELLEN. 

thorougli  knowledge  of  practice,  his  familiarity  with  decided 
cases,  and  his  quick  perception  of  the  points  and  merits  ot 
a  case,  were  peculiarly  valuable  at  a  time  when  the  new 
State  was  forming  its  system  of  jurisprudence,  and  estab- 
lishing rules  for  its  future  government.  The  industry  and. 
ability  with  which  he  discharged  his  arduous  and  important 
duties,  while  at  the  head  of  our  highest  court,  appears 
forcibly  written  in  the  first  eleven  volumes  of  the  Maine 
Reports ;  in  the  first  nine  of  which  he  found  an  able  expo- 
nent in  his  friend,  the  accomplished  Greenleaf.  Of  the 
sixty-nine  cases  in  the  first  volume  of  Greenleaf,  in  which 
formal  reports  are  given,  the  opinions  in  fifty  were 
drawn  by  the  chief  justice.  A  larger  proportion  still,  ap- 
pears in  the  second  volume,  where  of  the  eighty-four  formal 
opinions,  he  drew  seventy-four.  And  this  industry  and 
application  is  apparent  through  the  whole  series,  in  the 
last  of  which,  second  of  Fairheld,  of  the  one  hundred  and 
six  opinions,  he  prepared  fifty-five.  Nor  were  those  de- 
cisions of  a  light  or  hasty  kind  ;  many  of  them  involved 
points  of  the  highest  importance,  requiring  profound  study, 
nice  discrimination,  and  keen  analysis.  It  may  not  be  im- 
proper to  say  that  in  these  opinions  the  learned  chief  justice 
did  not  fall  behind  his  high  reputation  as  a  lawyer  or 
his  elevated  position  as  a  judge.  And  it  is  gratifying 
to  be  able  to  say  thaf  our  reports  were  cited  at  that  period, 
in  other  States,  with  great  respect. 

Never  were  stricter  integrity,  nor  a  more  earnest  desire 
to  render  exact  justice  in  every  case,  carried  to  the  bench"; 
and  no  judge  ever  performed  his  duties  more  conscientious- 
ly. If  any  criticism  may  be  permitted  on  a  judicial  course 
so  pure  and  able,  it  might  be  said  that  there  were  times 
when  the  judge's  patience  gave  way  before  the  tedious  pro- 
lixity of  some  advocates,  who  were  unwilHng  to  give  the 
court  credit  for  a  knowledge  of  the  elementary  principles 


PRENTISS   MELLEN.  169 

of  law ;  or  where  witnesses  were  pertinaciously  bent  on 
telling  all  their  experience  before  coming  to  the  point  in 
hand.  In  such  cases  he  would  sometimes  be  obnoxious  to 
the  censure  of  the  worthy  Fuller,  according  to  the  canon  of 
his  "  good  judge  ;  "  of  whom  he  says,  he  is  "  patient  and 
attentive  in  the  hearing  the  pleading  on  both  sides  ;  and 
hearkens  to  the  witnesses,  though  tedious.  He  may  give  a 
waking  testimony  who  'hath  but  a  dreamy  utterance ;  and 
many  people  must  be  impertinent  before  they  can  be  perti- 
nent ;  and  cannot  give  evidence  about  a  hen,  but  first  they 
must  begin  with  it  in  the  egg.  All  which  our  judge  is  con- 
tented to  hearken  to."  But  we  cannot  say  thi«  always  of 
our  good  chief  justice ;  he  could  not  sit  still  till  this  egg 
was  hatched.  In  another  aspect  he,  however,  amply  met 
this  worthy's  requirement :  "  He  nips  those  lawyers,  who, 
under  a  pretense  of  kindness  to  lend  a  witness  some  words, 
give  him  new  matter,  yea,  clean  contrary  to  what  he  in- 
tended." 

On  his  retirement  from  the  bencli,  the  Cumberland  Bar 
addressed  a  letter  to  Judge  Mellen,  through  a  committee  of 
its  most  respected  members,  expressive  of  the  high  sense  it 
entertained  of  his  services  and  merits,  as  an  upright  judge, 
and  of  his  qualities  as  a  man,  to  which  tribute  of  affection 
and  respect  ho  responded  with  deep  sensibility. 

In  1838  Judge  Mellen  was  appointed  by  the  executive  of 
Maine  at  the  head  of  a  commission  to  revise  and  codify  the 
public  statutes  of  the  State,  which  had  accumulated  to  near- 
ly one  thousand  chapters,  of  various,  and  in  some  instances, 
of  inconsistent  provisions.  He  earnestly  engaged  in  this 
task  with  his  colleagues,  the  lion.  Samuel  E.  Smith  and 
Ebenezer  Everett,  Esq.,  and  submitted  their  report  on  the 
first  of  January,  1840,  embracing  the  whole  body  of  the 
public  statute  law  in  one  hundred  and  seventy-eight  chapters 
12 


170  PRENTISS   MELLEN. 

under  twelve  titles.    This  was  adopted  by  the  legislature, 
and  constituted  the  first  volume  of  the  Revised  Statutes. 

This  was  tlie  last  public  service  of  our  estimable  citizen, 
who  had  now  passed  the  seventy-fifth  year  of  his  age. 

But  our  portrait  would  not  be  complete  without  the  lights 
which  come  from  his  private  and  domestic  life.  And  this 
was  as  free  from  obscurity  as  was  the  ermine  of  his  judicial 
office.  He  married  Miss  Sally  Hudson  of  Hartford,  Con- 
necticut, in  May,  1795,  whose  acquaintance  he  made  wliile 
practicing  law  in  Bridgewater,  and  whose  musical  talents 
first  attracted  his  attention.  She  was  a  daughter  of  Bar- 
zillai  Hudson  of  Hartford.  He  described  his  engagement 
in  the  following  characteristic  language  to  me  :  "  I  left 
Bridgewater  in  1791,  having  there  first  seen  and  fallen  in 
love  with  my  present  wife,  and  told  her  a  piece  of  my 
mind.^' 

She  was  an  amiable  and  accomplished  woman,  with  whom 
he  lived  in  domestic  happiness  over  forty-three  years,  ad- 
ministering, without  stint,  the  rites  of  a  generous  hospital- 
ity. She  died  in  1838,  aged  seventy-one  yeai-s.  By  her 
he  had  six  children,  all  born  in  Biddeford  ;  of  whom  two 
daughters  only  survive.  The  oldest  son,  Grenville,  a  grad- 
uate of  Harvard,  in  the  class  of  1818,  is  well  known  as  a 
literary  man,  flowering  out  from  the  legal  profession  :  he 
died  in  1841,  at  the  age  of  forty-two.  His  son  Frederick 
was  educated  at  Bowdoin,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1825 ; 
he  prepared  himself  for  the  practice  of  law,  but  was  seduced 
from  it  by  the  soft  impeachment  of  art ;  he  devoted  himself 
to  painting,  but  died  in  1834,  at  the  age  of  thirty,  before 
accomplishing  his  high  aspirations. 

Judge  Mellen  calmly  and  serenely  yielded  up  his  life  on 
the  last  day  of  the  year  1840,  in  the  midst  of  his  own  winter, 
having  passed  through  seventy-six  years  of  a  busy,  well- 
spent  life  ;  firm  in  the  conviction  of  an    approval  by  the 


PRENTISS    MELLEN.  171 

great  Judge  of  quick  and  dead.  He  was  the  last  survivor 
of  his  father's  family  of  nine  children, —  four  sons  and  five 
daughters.  His  youngest  sister  was  the  mother  of  Governor 
Kent,  now  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Maine. 

The  Cumberland  Bar  erected  a 'solid  and  durable  marble 
monument  to  his  memory,  with  suitable  inscriptions,  in  the 
cemetery  in  Portland,  over  his  remains. 

I  believe  that  the  remark  he  made  in  his  last  sickness 
to  be  perfectly  true,  "  I  have  always  endeavored  to  do 
do  what  I  believed  to  be  right."  He  was  a  religious  man, 
a  devoted  attendant  upon  public  worship,  conscientious  in 
the  performance  of  duty,  and  faithful  in  all  the  relations 
of  life.  His  natural  temperament  was  cheerful  and  gay  ; 
full  of  wit  and  anecdote,  fond  of  society,  which  he  enjoyed 
to  the  last,  and  in  which  his  cheerful  and  benevolent  coun- 
tenance was  always  acceptable. 

He  was  a  man  of  warm  imagination  and  fine  literary  taste. 
He  early  inclined  to  cultivate  a  familiarity  with  the  muses, 
and  like  his  cotemporary,  Judge  Story,  made  poetry  the 
sport  of  his  idle  hours  from  his  earliest  to  his  latest  age. 

The  following  ye?/  cV  esprit  was  sent  by  Judge  Mellen,  in 
1801,  to  Clerk  Sewall,  which  is  followed  by  Mr.  Sewall's 
answer.  They  appeared  in  the  Portsmouth  Advertiser,  Oc- 
tober 17,  1801. 

"  '  Squire  Sewall,  Sik, — Be  pleased  to  lend  me, 
Or  give, — or,  at  least,  to  send  me. 
Twelve  blanks  of  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
Touched  oil'  on  paper  smooth  as  grease, 
With  the  great  name  of  your  great  Honor 
Stuck  down,  to  sanction,  at  one  corner. 
I  want  them  soon  to  keep  law  going, 
For  law  sets  other  blessings  flowing  ; 
Because,  as  love  of  ready  rhino 
Is  the  root  of  evil,  ijou  and  /  know, 


172  PRENTISS   WELLEN  :    LAW    POETRY. 

Law  scatters  wide  this  evil  stuff, 

Till  the  poor  souls  havu't  half  enough 

To  keep  their  bodies  from  the  jail. 

So  by  next  post,  sir,  do  not  fail 

To  frank  them,  without  further  telling^ 

And  you'll  oblige  yjaur  friend,  P.  Mellkn." 

The  Clerk's  answer: 

'*  '  Squire  Mellex,  Sir, — See  here  I  send  you 
Twelve  blank  court  writs,  which  I  will  lend  you 
Till  the  next  court ;  and  I  expect 
To  fill  them  you  will  not  neglect ; 
And  if  you  want^  I'll  send  you  more, 
By  single,  dozen,  or  by  score. 

You'll  get  them  served ;  which  done,  you'll  venture 
On  the  clerk's  docket  all  to  enter 
That  are  not  settled  by  those  fools 
Who  will  not  be  confined  to  rules. 
For  laiv  sets  many  blessings  flowing, 
Sends  many  a  sheritT  fast  a-going ; 
Takes  from  vile  folks  '  the  root  of  evil,' 
Which  causes  them  to  be  quite  civil ; 
Keeps  them  in  jail  till  all  is  spent, 
And  then  be  sure  they  will, repent; 
Thus  justice  runs  through  all  tlie  State, 
'  Mongst  high  and  low,  and  small  and  great. 
•       The  commonwealth  '  sends  greeting  '  to  all, 
For  the  clerk's  name  is  Daniel  Sewall." 

The  cultivation  of  poetry  is  not  inconsistent  with  the 
severe  pursuits  of  the  legal  science.  Even  my  Lord  Coke, 
who,  in  the  mind  of  the  professional  student,  is  the  personifi- 
cation of  dryness,  often  quoted  from  the  poets,  and  observes, 
"  It  standeth  well  with  the  gravity  of  our  lawyers  to  cite 
verses."  Everybody,  too,  remembers  Pope's  praise  of  Mans- 
field, "  How  sweet  an  Ovid  was  in  Murray  lost."  And  our 
own  days  have  witnessed  in  the  eminent  English  lawyer. 
Sir  Thomas  Noon  Talfourd,  the  most  elaborate  and  polished 
of  legal  poets.     The  following  poetical  jcu  (V  esprit  on  the 


PRENTISS  MELLEN  :   SAMUEL   S.  WILDE.  173 

law  of  pauper  settlement,  from  an  old  poet,  may  be  quoted 
in  this  connection  as  a  true  legal  maxim  in  verse  : 

A  woman  having  a  settlement 
Married  a  man  with  none  : 
The  question  was,  he  being  dead, 
If  that  she  had  was  gone. 
Quoth  Sir  John  Pratt,  the  "  settlement, 
Suspended  doth  remain, 

Living  the  husband,  but  him  dead, 
It  doth  revive  again. 

Chorus  of  puisne  Judges. 
Living  the  husband,  but  liim  dead, 
•  It  doth  revive  again." 

The  calmness  and  patience  with  which  our  lamented  friend 
bore  his  last  sickness,  gave  ample  testimony  of  the  sincerity 
of  his  faith  and  the  firmness  of  his  religious  principles.  At 
this  trying  period  he  frequently  uttered  expressions  of  his 
entire  submission  to  the  divine  will :  desirous  to  be  relieved 
from  tlic  burden  of  the  flesh,  yet  perfectly  resigned  to  wait. 
At  one  time  he  said,  "  I  seem  to  be  suspended  between  heaven 
and  earth  :  the  body  clings  to  its  native  element,  while  the 
spirit  struggles  to  be  free."  At  another  time  he  said,  "  I 
can't  let  go,  the  thread  of  life  is  too  strong."  It  broke  at 
lengtli,  and  the  spirit  ascended  to  its  congenial  home. 

And  now,  in  the  language  of  Fuller's  "  Holy  State,"  "  we 
leave  our  good  judge  to  receive  a  just  reward  of  his  integ- 
rity from  the  Judge  of  judges,  at  the  great  assize  of  the 
world." 

SAMUEL     S.     WILDE.      179  2—1816. 

Among  the  bright  lights  which  have  illuminated  the  law 
in  Maine,  none  have  shone  with  greater  luster  than  the  late 
Judge  Wilde.  He  was  born  in  Taunton,  Massachusetts, 
February  5, 1771,  the  son  of  Daniel  Wilde  and  Anna  Sum- 


174  SAMUEL   S.  WILDE. 

ner,  the  only  daughter  of  Samuel  Sumner  of  Taunton. 
Daniel,  his  father,  "was  the  only  son  of  William  Wilde  and 
Anna,  a  daughter  of  the  Hon.  Samuel  White  of  Taunton, 
who  was  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  of  Mas- 
sachusetts at  the  time  of  the  Stamp  Act.  He  took  his  first 
degree  at  Dartmouth  College,  in  1789 ;  having  among  his 
classmates,  Governors  Crittenden  of  Vermont  and  Dinsmore 
of  New  Hampshire.  He  immediately  entered  upon  the 
study  of  law  with  David  L.  Barnes  of  Taunton,  who  was 
afterwards  Judge  of  the  United  States  District  Court  of 
Rhode  Island ;  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Bristol 
County  in  1792.  He  came  to  Maine  soon  after,  and  com- 
menced practice  in  Waldoboro';  two  years  after,  he  moved 
to  Warren,  and  was  the  first  lawyer  who  commenced  prac- 
tice in  that  town.  On  the  incorporation  of  Kennebec 
County,  in  1799,  he  moved  to  Hallowell,  which  continued 
to  be  his  place  of  residence  until  he  removed  to  Massachu- 
setts, on  the  separation  of  Maine  in  1820,  to  continue  the 
exercise  of  his  office  as  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
Commonwealth,  to  which  he  had  been  appointed  by  Gover- 
nor Strong,  in  1815. 

The  Hon.  Frederick  Allen,  who  was  cotemporary  with 
Judge  Wilde  at  the  Kennebec  Bar,  thus  speaks  of  him  as 
he  entered  on  the  practice  in  that  county :  "  Having  no 
superior  at  the  bar,  and,  indeed,  no  equal,  he  immediately 
entered  upon  a  successful  course  of  practice,  which  contin- 
ued to  expand  from  year  to  year,  as  long  as  he  resided 
there.  The  great  success  of  Mr.  Wilde  consisted  in  his 
power  as  an  advocate,  which  was  unrivaled  by  any  cotem- 
porary. His  clear  and  ready  perception  of  all  the  intricate 
points  of  a  cause  was  remarkable.  He  rarely  failed  to 
make  himself  so  far  master  of  his  case  as  to  impart  his  con- 
victions to  the  jury.  His  addresses  to  the  jury  were  gen- 
erally brief,  energetic,  and   rapid.      His   enunciation  was 


SAMUEL   S.  WILDE.  175 

clear  and  distinct.  He  spoke  for  the  cMuse  —  not  for  any- 
general  effect.  The  main  qualities  of  his  forensic  addresses 
were  force,  energy,  and  ingenuity.  We  believe  he  was  the 
most  popular  advocate  who  has  ever  grown  up  in  Maine. 
His  practice  extended  to  all  the  counties  east  of  Cumber- 
land." 

We  may  add  that  he  occasionally  came  into  Cumberland  ; 
where,  as  in  other  counties,  his  great  rivals  were  Mellen 
and  Orr ;  who,  according  to  the  custom  of  that  time  with 
the  principal  lawyers,  "  traveled  the  circuit,"  or  followed 
the  Supreme  Court  into  the  several  counties. 

On  the  death  of  Judge  Dewey,  in  1815,  Mellen  and 
Wilde  had  rival  claims  for  the  vacant  seat ;  which  was 
awiarded  to  Wilde,  although  the  junior.  Mr.  Mellen  was, 
however,  not  long  after  chosen  to  the  senate  of  the  United 
States,  from  which  he  was  transferred  to  the  bench  of 
Maine  as  her  first  chief  justice.  The  sharp  conflicts  at  the 
bar  between  these  eminent  lawyers  furnished  many  inter- 
esting scenes  to  the  lookers  on.  Mellen  was  ardent,  earnest, 
rapid,  and  impulsive,  —  seeming  to  carry  his  cause  by  storm. 
Wilde,  cool,  collected,  ingenious,  and  impressive,  —  calmly 
undermining  or  overthrowing  the  arguments  of  his  adver- 
sary. They  both,  for  the  first  fifteen  years  of  this  century, 
had  eminent  success  as  advocates  at  the  bar,  and  were  lead- 
ing counsel  in  the  numerous  and  important  land  cases 
which  were  continually  thronging  the  courts. 

On  the  occasion  of  Judge  Wilde's  retiring  from  the  bench, 
in  1851,  at  the  age  of  eighty  years,  Benjamin  Rand,  a  dis- 
tinguished lawyer  in  Boston,  thus  spoke  of  the  legal  attain- 
ments of  this  jurist:  "  By  the  course  of  his  early  studies, 
and  by  extensive  practice  at  the  bar  with  eminent  lawyers, 
his  cotemporaries,  of  great  attainments  in  the  recondite 
learning  of  the  day,  he  ac(iuircd,  before  his  elevation  to  the 
bench,  a  deep  and  thoroughly  accurate  knowledge  of  tlie 


176  SAMUEL   S.  WILDE. 

great  principles  and  rules  of  the  common  law  in  all  its 
various  ramifications. 

"  Among  other  branches  ^of  the  jurisprudence  of  the 
common  law,  that  pertaining  to  real  property  then  consti- 
tuted, and  still  continues  to  constitute,  a  very  essential  part 
of  our  legal  science.  This  seems  to  have  been  one  of  his 
early  and  favorite  studies." 

Chief  Justice  Shaw,  on  the  same  occasion,  said,  "  Com- 
mencing the  study  of  the  law  at  a  period  when  the  law  of 
real  property  was  of  the  highest  practical  utility  and  impor- 
tance, his  powerful  mind  was  early  devoted  to  that  system 
of  rules  founded  deeply  in  the  principles  of  the  common 
law.  Practicing  in  a  part  of  the  Commonwealth  where 
great  interests  were  draw^n  in  question,  depending  on  the 
law  of  real  property  ;  where  the  highest  honors  and  rewards 
of  the  profession  awaited  the  practicer  who  was  best  versed 
in  the  knowledge  and  practice  of  this  branch  of  the  law, 
his  mind  became  so  familiar  with  its  minute  and  apparently 
subtle  distinctions,  that  he  could  apply  them  promptly,  like 
simplest  principles,  to  complicated  cases." 

Again  Judge  Shaw  remarks,  "  A  practice  of  twenty- 
four  years  at  the  bar,  and  his  judicial  labors,  during  the 
long  period  of  thirty-five  years,  have  made  his  name  and  his 
reputation  conspicuous  amongst  living  jurists." 

He  held  the  office  of  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  longer 
than  any  other  judge  in  Massachusetts,  with  the  exception 
of  the  first  Samuel  Sewall,  who  was  appointed  in  1G92,  and 
continued  on  the  bench,  as  an  associate  and  chief  justice, 
until  1728,  a  period  of  thirty-six  years.  Benjamin  Lynde 
held  the  two  offices  thirty-four  years,  from  1712  to  1745  ; 
and  Paul  Dudley  thirty-four  years,  from  1718  to  1751. 
Judge  Shaw  held  the  office  of  chief  justice  thirty  years, 
from  1830  to  1860. 

Mr.  Wilde  was  so  much  occupied  by  professional  engage- 


SAMUEL   S.  WILDE.  177 

ments  that  he  rarely  took  part  in  political  life,  although  he 
was  a  very  earnest  and  strenuous  adherent  of  the  Federal 
party.  In  1797,  on  the  4th  of  July,  he  delivered  an  ora- 
tion at  Thomaston,  before  the  "  Friendly  Society,  and  in 
commemoration  of  the  anniversary  of  American  Independ- 
ence," whicli  was  published,  and  is  characterized  by  terseness 
of  language  and  patriotism  of  sentiment. 

In  1798  and  1799,  he  represented  the  town  of  Warren  in 
the  legislature ;  and  in  1800  and  1808,  he  was  appointed  by 
the  legislature  one  of  the  electors  of  President  and  Vice- 
President.  In  1814,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Council ;  and,  the  same  year,  was  appointed  a  delegate  to 
the  Hartford  Convention,  in  company  with  some  of  the 
most  illustrious  men  of  the  Commonwealth ;  viz.,  George 
Cabot,  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  William  Prescott,  Nathan  Dane, 
and  Stephen  Longfellow.  The  next  year  he  took  his  seat 
upon  the  bench,  which  for  thirty-five  years  he  adorned  by 
sound  legal  learning,  undeviating  impartiality,  and  great 
dignity  of  deportment.  "  Of  his  absolute  and  entire  impar- 
tiality," says  Judge  Shaw,  "  a  close  and  daily  observation  of 
twenty  years  enables  me  to  speak  with  entire  confidence." 

In  1792,  the  same  year  in  which  he  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  Judge  Wilde  entered  into  a  matrimonial  partnership 
by  his  marriage  with  Eunice,  a  daughter  of  General  David 
Cobb,  then  of  Taunton,  but  afterwards  of  Maine  ;  by  whom 
he  had  nine  children,  most  of  whom  are  dead  :  their  motlier 
died  June  6,  182G.  His  eldest  daugliter,  Eunice,  married 
Williams  Emmons  of  Augusta,  son  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Emmons 
of  Franklin,  Massachusetts,  and  died  in  1821.  Anotlier 
married  the  Rev.  Mr.  Tappan,  son  of  Dr.  Tappan  of  Au- 
gusta. Eleanor  married  John  W.  Mellen,  son  of  the  Rev. 
John  Mellen  of  Cambridge,  who  arc  both  dead.  Caroline 
married  Caleb  Gushing  of  Newburyport,  and   died  in  1832. 


178  SAMUEL   S.  WILDE  :    GEORGE   WARREN. 

His  eldest  surviving  son  is  Clerk  of  the  Courts  in  Suffolk 
County. 

In  private  life,  Judge  Wilde  was  social ;  and  in  early  life, 
convivial ;  always  genial  and  affable.  Warmth  and  kind- 
ness of  heart,  and  courtesy  of  manner,  ever  characterized 
him.  We  may  sum  up  his  merits  in  the  language  of  a  res- 
olution offered  to  the  Suffolk  Bar  by  George  S.  Hillard,  on 
occasion  of  Judge  W^ilde's  death,  which  occurred  June 
25,  1856: 

"  The  private  and  personal  worth  of  this  eminent  magis- 
trate was  in  strict  harmony  with  his  official  merits,  and 
indeed,  formed  a  part  of  them.  His  bearing  upon  the  bench 
indicated  the  man.  Simple  in  his  tastes,  of  industrious 
habits,  of  a  cheerful  s{)irit,  of  warm  domestic  affections,  and 
strong  religious  faith,  he  never  lost  his  interest  in  life,  and 
nothing  of  him  but  his  body  grew  old.  He  was  frank, 
direct,  calmly  courageous,  and  of  unalloyed  simplicity ; 
caring  as  little  to  conceal  what  he  was,  as  to  affect  what  he 
was  not." 

His  services  and  merits  as  a  public  man  and  a  private 
citizen  were  imiversally  acknowledged,  and  the  three  uni- 
versities of  Harvard,  Dartmouth,  and  Bowdoin,  in  conferring 
upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws,  did  but 
record  the  just  expression  of  public  opinion.  He  was  also 
chosen  a  member  of  that  select  association  of  Massachusetts, 
the  '"  American  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences." 

GEORGE     WARREN. 

Among  the  lesser  lights  of  the  Kennebec  Bar  which  shone 
briefly  and  not  brightly,  and  were  extinguished  before  the 
opening  of  the  present  century,  were  George  Warren,  Amos 
Stoddard,  and  William  Hodge.  Warren  was  the  son  of 
General  Warren  ;    his  mother  was  the  celebrated   Mercy 


GEORGE   WARREN.  179 

Warren,  daughter  of  James  Otis  of  Barnstable  ;  she  was 
author  of  several  poetical  effusions,  and  a  history  of  the 
Revolution,  in  three  volumes.  Her  son  George  did  not  re- 
ceive a  liberal  education,  but  after  .  pursuing  the  usual 
course  of  study  prescri))ed  to  those  who  had  not  received  a 
degree  at  college,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Suffolk  in 
1792.  The  same  year  he  went  to  Winslow  on  the  Kennebec 
River,  where  his  family  and  their  friends  had  landed  prop- 
erty. Winslow,  then  including  Waterville,  had  a  population 
of  only  about  eight  hundred,  and  their  habitations  were  few 
and  far  between.  He  was  the  first  lawyer  there  or  in  that 
part  of  the  county.  But  law  was  not  much  to  his  fancy, 
and  he  only  indulged  in  it  for  diversion.  He  was  a  repre- 
sentative to  the  General  Court  the  first  year  of  his  being  in 
Winslow  ;  his  land  agency  occupied  much  of  his  time,  the 
remainder  was  wildly  sj^cnt. 

He  built  a  cottage  on  the  bank  of  the  river  in  which  he 
kept  bachelor's  hall  for  awhile  ;  but  the  country  and  society 
were  altogether  too  solitary  for  him,  and  he  moved  to  Augus- 
ta, where  his  habits  of  dissipation  increased  to  a  fatal  extent, 
and  he  soon  died  very  poor. 

Mr.  Rice,  who  succeeded  Warren  and  knew  him  well, 
thus  speaks  of  him  :  "  He  built  a  cottage  house  on  the  bank 
of  the  Kennebec  River,  according  to  a  plan  furnished  him 
by  Dr.  Bulfmch'  of  Boston  ;  finished  the  outside,  did  a  little 
something  to  the  inside,  lived  and  kept  bachelor's  hall  in  it, 
and  kept  a  ferry  across  the  river.  Warren  was  a  very  pop- 
ular man,  very  social,  and  soon  partook  of  the  habits  of 
many  in  the  country.  1  saw  him  at  Augusta  a  few  days 
before  his  death,  and  found  him  in  great  distress.  Mr.  War- 
ren was  a  man  of  fine  natural  talents,  and  though  not  public- 
ly educated,  had  stored  his  mind  with  much  useful  and  pop- 

1  The  sou  of  Dr.  Bulfiuch  planned  the  State  Houses  in  Boston  and  Augusta. 


180  AMOS   STODDARD. 

ular  knowledge.  His  mother  was  one  of  the  best  informed 
and  best  educated  women  in  Massachusetts,  and  wrote  a 
history  of  the  Revolution." 

AMOS     STODDARD.       1792—1798. 

Amos  Stoddard  was  the  son  of  Anthony  Stoddard  of 
Woodbury,  Connecticut,  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Solomon  Stod- 
dard of  Northampton,  a  name  of  great  note  in  the  ecclesias- 
tical history  of  his  time.  The  subject  of  our  notice  was 
born  in  Woodbury,  in  1759.  At  the  age  of  twenty  he  en- 
tered the  Revolutionary  army,  and  served  through  the  war. 
He  was  afterwards  assistant  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  in 
Boston,  from  which  place  he  came  to  Hallowell  in  1792  or 
1793,  and  opened  an  office  as  an  attorney  of  the  Common 
Pleas.  In  1797  he  represented  the  town  of  Hallo^'cU  in 
the  legislature.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  personal  appearance, 
and  had  more  taste  for  military  life  than  for  the  quiet  pursuit 
of  his  profession  in  a  remote  country  village,  as  Hallowell 
then  was.  On  the  first  tap  of  the  drum  as  a  signal  to  arms 
in  1798,  against  the  French,  his  military  ardor  revived,  and 
he  entered  the  army  with  a  captain's  commission.  In  1799 
he  had  command  of  the  fort  in  Portland,  which  had  been 
erected  on  the  summit  of  Munjoy's  Hill,  and  called  Port 
Sumner.  In  July  of  that  year  he  delivered  the  4th  of  July 
oration  in  Portland.  In  October,  1802,  he  was  again  in 
charge  of  Fort  Sumner  ;  but  the  same  month  he  was  or- 
dered to  the  Ohio,  and  does  not  appear  again  in  our  latitude. 
In  the  battle  of  Fort  Meigs,  May,  1813,  he  was  wounded  by 
a  shell,  which  terminated  his  life,  at  the  age  of  fifty-four. 
He  had  attained  the  rank  of  Major  in  the  regular  array,  and 
was  reputed  to  have  been  a  man  of  talents.  At  one  time 
he  was  civil  commander  of  upper  Louisiana  ;  and  a  military 
station,  Fort  Stoddard,  was  named  for  him.     In  1812  he 


WILLIAM    HODGE:    THOMAS   RICE.  181 

published  sketches  of  that  country.    He  had  previously  pub- 
lished, in  London,  a  work  called  "  The  Political  Crisis." 

WILLIAM     IIODGE.      17  9  4  —  17  9  8. 

Mr.  Hodge  was  not  so  fortunate  as  Major  Stoddard,  for 
in  some  pique  against  his  friends  for  not  furnishing  him 
with  pecuniary  aid,  he  enlisted  in  Adams's  army  as  a  com- 
mon soldier.  He  was  born  in  Wiscasset,  and  graduated  at 
Harvard  College  in  1791 ;  after  completing  his  legal  studies, 
he  opened  an  office  in  Winslow  in  1794,  on  the  point  made 
by  the  Sebasticook  and  Kennebec  Rivers,  where  had  been 
erected  Fort  Halifax,  as  a  frontier  post  to  protect  the  country 
from  Indian  incursions.  But  this  proved  a  discouraging 
station  for  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  who  had  been  used  to  see 
people  and  to  meet  good  society,  and  he  abandoned  tlie  place 
the  next  year.  He  enlisted  in  the  army  in  1798,  from 
which,  although  he  was  released  by  the  intercession  of  his 
friends,  it  does  not  appear  that  he  returned  to  the  bar  in 
Maine,  and  I  have  no  knowledge  as  to  his  subsequent  life. 

THOMAS     RICE. 

In  this  connection  I  will  introduce  a  character,  —  one  of 
the  cotemporaries  of  tl»e  last  three,  whose  steady,  quiet,  and 
honorable  life  was  in  entire  contrast  to  theirs.  Thomas 
Rice,  who  for  fifty-nine  years  was  a  member  of  the  Kenne- 
bec Bar,  and  wliose  long  life  of  eighty-six  years  was  spent 
in  Maine,  was  born  in  Wiscasset,  ^farch  80,  17^3.  He  took 
his  first  degree  at  Harvard  in  1791,  a  classmate  of  his  towns- 
man, Hodge,  before  mentioned.  His  ancestor  who  first  came 
to  this  country  was  one  of  the  Scotch-Irish  colony  that  ar- 
rived in  15oston  from  Belfast, — the  grandfather  of  his  father, 
— and  settled  in   Sutton  in  Worcester  County,  where  his 


182  THOMAS   RICE. 

fatlier  was  brought  up.  In  that  town  the  Rev.  John  Mc- 
Kinstry,  an  immigrant  of  the  same  colony,  educated  at  the 
College  of  Edinburgh,  was  the  lirst  settled  minister.  His 
father,  Dr.  Thomas  Rice,  was  educated  at  Harvard,  from 
which  he  took  his  degree  in  1756,  and  having  pursued  his 
medical  studies  with  Dr.  Oliver  Prescott  of  Groton,_he  es- 
tablished himself  in  his  profession  at  Wiscasset.  In  addition 
to  his  labors  as  a  physician,  he  was  for  many  years  a  judge 
and  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  Lin- 
coln County,  and  Register  of  Deeds.  He  discharged  the 
duties  of  these  various  offices  with  uprightness  and  fidelity, 
and  died  honored  and  respected  in  1812. 

His  son  Thomas,  after  leaving  college,  went  to  Groton  to 
keep  school,  and  at  the  same  time  to  study  medicine  with 
Dr.  Prescott,  the  teacher  of  his  father.  But  after  a  little 
experience  he  quitted  the  study  of  medicine,  and  entered  the 
office  of  Timothy  Bigelow  as  a  law  student.  After  com- 
pleting his  three  years'  course,  he  went  to  Wiscasset,  where 
the  court  was  then  sitting,  and  applied  for  admission  to  the 
bar,  but  was  estopped  by  the  rule  which  required  that  a 
portion  of  the  preparatory  study  should  be  pursued  in  the 
county.  His  own  simple  narrative  in  this  perplexity  will 
show  us  some  of  the  forms  of  that  day.  He  says,  "  I  knew 
not  then  what  to  do  but  to  return  to  Groton  to  consult  my 
friend  Mr.  Bigelow.  I  stopped  in  Boston, — the  court  of  Com- 
mon Picas  was  sitting  there.  I  saw  Judge  Sullivan,  the 
president  of  the  bar  in  that  county,  and  told  him  my  story. 
He  said  he  would  call  a  bar  meeting  and  submit  my  case, 
whicli  he  did,  and  they  voted  immediately  for  my  admission 
to  practice  in  that  county.  I  have  the  certificate  of  the 
clerk  of  the  court,  Ezekiel  Price,  now  before  me  (1851), 
which  shows  that' fifty-seven  years  since  (1794),  I  was  ad- 
mitted to  the  practice  of  the  law.  I  returned  to  Wiscasset, 
there  I  found  Lee  and  Smith  (Manassch),  and  there  I  staid 


THOMAS   RICE.  183 

until  the  first  day  of  the  next  April,  1795,  when  I  set  my 
face  toward  Winslow,  including  that  part  of  it  called  Water- 
ville.  A  classmate  of  mine  named  Hodge  had  just  left  tliat 
place,  and  I  was  desirous  to  occupy  his  stand.  My  brother 
and  myself  each  mounted  a  horse,  one  carrying  my  library 
in  his  saddle  bags  and  the  other  my  wardrobe.  After  a 
wearisome  ride  througli  the  mud,  we  arrived  at  Fort  Halifax. 
I  found,  to  my  surprise,  that  the  stand  I  had  ])een  looking 
to  ha(}  been  occupied  four  days  by  tlie  late  Reuben  Kidder. 
I  was  now  brought  to  a  dead  stand  ;  which  way  to  go  I  knew 
not ;  my  brother  had  returned  with  our  horses,  and  L.was 
left  moneyless  and  friendless.  There  was  an  acquaintance 
of  my  father's,  who  had  been  living  in  Winslow  a  year  or 
two,  who  owned  the  only  house  in  the  place,  except  Fort 
Halifax  and  one  or  two  fishermen's  huts.  I  went  to  see 
him,  told  him  my  situation,  and  asked  his  advice.  He  said 
the  prospect  was  dark,  but  as  I  had  come,  if  I  had  a  mind 
to  try  my  luck,  he  would  board  me  five  or  six  months,  and 
give  me  the  use  of  a  little  room  (about  eight  feet  square) 
that  he  had  in  a  small  building  which  was  occupied  with  a 
few  articles  that  he  had  for  the  use  of  the  fisliermcn.  I  con- 
cluded to  stay  and  put  up  a  small  sign  on  my  door,  giving 
notice  that  a  lawyer  was  ready  to  do  business  there.  At  tlie 
end  of  six  months  I  paid  for  my  board  and  had  something 
left ;  and  in  the  course  of  two  years  my  business  had  in- 
creased so  that  I  thouglit  I  was  worth  twelve  or  fifteen 
hundred  dollars." 

In  another  letter  to  me,  he  says,  "  Near  by  the  cottage 
erected  by  Mr.  Warren,  and  on  his  land,  stood  a  small  un- 
finished building  which  had  been  used  a  short  time  before 
by  a  man  having  a  few  goods  to  trade  witii  the  fisliermcn. 
This  building  was  on  the  bank  of  Kennebec  River,  about  a 
mile  below  where  my  office  stood  on  Fort  Halifiix  Point,  be- 
tween the  Kennebec  and  Sebasticook  Rivers.     Here  myself 


184  THOMAS  RICE. 

and  wife  lived  about  two  years.  During  the  winters  of 
these  two  years,  I  had  to  break  my  own  road  up  to  the 
county  road,  the  snow  being  frequently  from  two  to  three 
feet  deep.  I  left  my  wife  in  the  morning,  and  wended  my 
way  as  well  as  I  could,  and  returned  at  night  tired  and 
weary.  I  could  find  no  other  resting  place,  and  necessity 
compelled  me  to  take  that.  Soon  after  I  went  there  to  live, 
Mr.  Warren  left  and  went  to  Augusta.  The  second  sum- 
mer I  lived  there  I  bought  of  an  Indian,  a  birch  canoe.  He 
taught  me  how  to  use  it,  and  in  it  I  went  to  and  from  my 
office  daily,  which  saved  me  a  good  deal  of  trouble  and 
some  expense  in  not  being  obliged  to  cross  the  Sebasticook 
River." 

This  may  justly  be  called  the  pursuit  of  law  under  diffi- 
culties. We  think  the  young  practitioners  of  the  present 
day  would  be  hardly  willing  to  make  their  way  into  practice 
through  such  toils,  embarrassments,  and  hardships  as  beset 
the  way  of  our  pioneer  on  the  Kennebec.  Mr.  Rice  was  a 
true  man,  he  went  steadily  and  courageously  on,  patiently 
laboring  in  his  profession,  encouraged  by  gradual  success, 
securing,  by  integrity,  ability,  and  urbanity  of  manners,  the 
good  will  of  the  people,  independence  in  his  pecuniary  cir- 
cumstances, honorable  standing  at  the  bar  and  in  public  life. 
In  1807  he  was  appointed  by  the  Supreme  Court  one  of  the 
examiners  of  counsellors  and  attornies  for  Kennebec.  In 
1814  he  represented  his  town  in  the  legislature  of  Massachu- 
setts, and  was  representative  in  Congress  from  the  Kennebec 
District,  two  terms,  from  1817  to  1821.  Having  faithfully 
lived,  and  discharged  the  duties  of  the  various  offices  he  was 
called  to  fill,  with  honorable  fidelity,  he  laid  down  the  bur- 
den of  his  long  life  peacefully,  at  the  grave's  mouth,  with 
the  respect  of  all  who  knew  him,  August  24,  1854,  in  the 
eighty-fourth  year  of  his  age. 

The  first  President  Adams,  in  obtaining  his  admission  to 


THOMAS   RICE  :    ADMISSION    TO   THE   BAR.  185 

the  bar,  passed  through  an  ordeal  not  unlike  that  of  Mr. 
Rice.  I  copy  from  Mr.  Adams's  Diary  as  giving  iw  a  glimpse 
of  the  forms  at  that  day  :  "  1758,  October  25.  Went  in  the 
morning  to  Mr.  Gridley's  and  asked  the  favor  of  his  advice, 
what  steps  to  take  for  an  introduction  to  the  practice  of  law 
in  this  county.  He  answered,  '  Get  sworn.'  But  in  order 
to  that,  Sir,  as  I  have  no  patron  in  this  county, —  G. — I  will 
recommend  you  to  the  court ;  mark  the  day  the  court  ad- 
journs to  in  order  to  make  up  judgments  ;  come  to  town 
that  day,  and  in  the  meantime,  I  will  speak  to  the  bar ;  for 
the  bar  must  be  consulted,  because  the  court  always  inquires 
if  it  be  with  the  consent  of  the  bar.  Then  Mr.  Gridley  in- 
quired what  method  of  study  I  had  pursued,  etc." 

"  Thursday,  26.  Went  in  the  morning  to  wait  on  Mr. 
Pratt.  He  inquired  if  I  had  been  sworn  at  Worcester. 
No.  '  Have  you  a  letter  from  Mr.  Putnam  to  the  court  ?  ' 
No.  '  It  would  have  been  most  proper  to  have  done  one  of 
these  things  first.  When  a  young  gentleman  goes  from  me 
into  another  county,  I  always  write  in  his  favor  to  the  court 
in  that  county  ;  or,  if  you  had  been  sworn  there,  you  would 
have  been  intitled  to  have  been  sworn  here.  But  now,  no- 
body in  this  county  knows  anything  about  you,  so  nobody 
can  say  anything  in  your  favor  but  by  hearsay.  I  believe 
you  have  made  a  proper  proficiency  in  science,  and  that  you 
will  do  very  well,  but  that  is  only  hearsay.'  Pratt  is  in- 
finitely liarder  of  access  than  Gridley ;  he  is  ill  natured, 
and  Gridley  is  good  natured." 

"  Monday,  November  6.  Went  to  town ;  went  to  Mr. 
Gridley's  office,  but  he  had  not  returned  to  town.  Went 
again  ;  not  returned.  Attended  court  till  after  twelve,  and 
began  to  grow  uneasy,  expecting  that  Quincy  would  be 
sworn  and  I  have  no  patron,  when  Mr.  Gridley  made  his  ap- 
pearance, and  on  sight  of  me  he  whispered  to  Mr.  Pratt, 
Dana,  Kent,  Thacher,  tfec,  about  me.     JNIr.  Pratt  said  no- 


186  ADMISSION   TO   THE    BAR:    JOSEPH   THOMAS. 

body  knew  me.  Yes,  says  Gridley,  I  have  tried  him,  he  is 
a  very  sensible  fellow.  At  last  he  rose  up  and  bowed  to  his 
right  hand  and  said,  Mr.  Quincy, — when  Quincy  rose  ;  then 
he  bowed  to  me,  Mr.  Adams,  when  I  walked  out.  '  ]\Iay  it 
please  your  Honors,  I  have  two  young  gentlemen,  Mr. 
Quincy  and  Mr.  Adams,  to  present  for  the  oath  of  attorney. 
Of  Mr.  Quincy,  it  is  sufficient  to  say,  he  has  lived  three 
years  with  Mr.  Pratt ;  of  Mr.  Adams,  as  he  is  unknown  to 
your  Honors,  it  is  necessary  to  say,  that  he  has  lived  be- 
tween two  and  three  years  with  Mr.  Putnam  of  Worcester, 
has  a  good  character  from  him  and  all  others  that  know  him, 
and  that  he  was  with  me  the  other  day  several  hours,  and  I 
take  it  he  is  qualified  to  study  the  law  by  his  scholarship, 
and  that  he  has  made  a  very  considerable,  a  very  great  pro- 
ficiency in  the  principles  of  the  law,  and  therefore  that  the 
client's  interest  may  be  safely  intrusted  in  his  hands.  I, 
therefore,  recommend  him,  with  the  consent  of  the  bar,  to 
your  Honors  for  the  oath.'  Mr.  Pratt  said  two  or  three 
words,  and  the  clerk  was  ordered  to  swear.  After  the  oath, 
Mr.  Gridley  took  me  by  the  hand,  wished  me  much  joy,  and 
recommended  me  to  the  bar.  I  shook  hands  with  the  bar 
and  received  their  congratulations,  and  invited  them  over  to 
Stone's  to  drink  some  punch,  where  the  most  of  us  resorted 
and  had  a  very  cheerful  chat." 

JOSEPH     THOMAS.       17  0  2  —  18  30. 

Joseph  Tiiomas  was  born  in  Pembroke,  Massachusetts, 
November  20,  1702,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1786, 
in  the  class  with  Judge  Parker,  Alden  Bradford,  and  other 
prominent  men.  He  came  to  Portland  and  took  charge  of 
the  grammar  school  after  taking  his  degree,  and  afterwards 
studied  law  with  his  uncle,  Daniel  Davis.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  Cumberland  at  tlie  May  term,  1792,   and  im- 


JOSEPH   THOMAS.  187 

mediately  established  himself  in  practice  at  Kennebunk. 
There  was  then  no  lawyer  in  that  town,  unless  it  may  have 
been  Sylvanus  Wildes,  who  came  there  in  1700,  but  re- 
mained so  short  a  time  as  to  have  left  no  traces  or  traditions 
concerning  himself.  A  Sylvanus  Wildes,  a  graduate  of  Har- 
vard in  the  class  of  1777,  is  noted  on  the  catalogue  as  having 
died  in  1829  :  whether  the  lawyer  at  Kennebunk  was  the 
same,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing.  We  do  not  find  his 
name  among  the  lawyers  of  Massachusetts  or  Maine  in  1793. 
The  only  other  lawyers  in  the  County  of  York  were  George 
Thacher  and  Prentiss  Melleu  in  Biddeford,  and  Dudley 
Hubbard  in  Berwick.  Kennebunk  was  a  part  of  Wells 
until  1820  ;  the  population  of  the  united  town  in  1790  was 
but  three  thousand  and  seventy,  of  whicli  Kennebunk  con- 
tained the  smallest  proportion,  probably  not  more  than 
twelve  hundred  in  1792  ;  but  it  was  a  place  of  considerable 
activity  and  commercial  business,  and  became  the  residence 
of  several  distinguished  lawyers. 

Mr,  Thomas  was  a  man  of  sound  intellect,  and  well  versed 
in  legal  principles ;  which  gave  value  and  confidence  to  his 
professional  advice.  He  rarely  argued  his  own  cases,  and 
had  no  distinction  as  an  advocate,  but  he  had  a  ready  wit, 
and  was  a  genial,  social  companion.  An  instance  of  a  prac- 
tical joke  is  told  of  him.  Judge  Widgery,  who  was  an  as- 
sociate justice  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas  ap- 
pointed in  1812  by  Covcrnor  Gerry,  altliough  no  lawyer, 
charged  the  jury,  while  holding  court  in  York  County,  that 
a  man  had  a  right  to  make  his  mark  on  the  ground  and  tell 
another  if  he  stepped  over  it,  he  would  knock  him  down. 
Thomas  started  out  of  court  before  the  judge,  and  went  to 
the  house  where  the  judge  and  several  members  of  the  bar 
boarded  ;  wlien  the  judge  was  approaching  the  gate,  Thomas 
drew  a  line  on  the  ground  with  his  cane,  and  when  Widgery 
came  to  it,  he  told  him  if  he  dared  step  over  the  line,  lie 


188  JOSEPH   THOMAS:   JOB  NELSON. 

would  knock  him  down.  The  judge  hesitated  at  this  appli- 
cation of  his  own  law,  and  after  considerable  parley,  Thomas 
yielded,  and  let  him  pass. 

Mr.  Thomas  was  popular  in  his  town,  and  had  the  confi- 
dence of  the  people  ;  he  was  many  years  one  of  the  select- 
men of  the  town ;  a  representative  to  the  legislature  three 
years, — 1814, 1815,  1816;  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of  Ses- 
sions ;  and  a  member  of  the  convention  which  framed  the 
Constitution  of  Maine. 

In  the  notice  of  him  by  Mr.  Hopkins,  in  his  address  to  the 
Cumberland  Bar,  in  1833,  he  thus  speaks  of  him  :  "  He  pos- 
sessed a  strong  mind  and  highly  respectable  acquirements  in 
many  branches  of  learning.  He  was  so  entirely  unassuming 
and  unpretending  that  his  mental  acquisitions  were  generally 
under-estimated  by  strangers,  who  had  but  little  knowledge 
of  the  man  ;  this  estimation  always  rose  in  proportion  as 
their  intimacy  increased." 

He  died  January  20,  1830,  aged  sixty-seven,  leaving  no 
issue.     His  wife  was  a  niece  of  Daniel  Davis. 


The  Hon.  Jacob  McGaw  of  Bangor  has  favored  me  with 
the  following  sketch  of  Mr.  Nelson's  life. 

JOB     NELSON.      1793  —  1850. 

Job  Nelson  was  born  in  Middleborough,  Massacliusctts,  in 
1766,  and  died  in  Orland,  July  2,  1850. 

The  site  of  the  town  of  Castine,  wbcre  ^Mr.  Nelson's  pro- 
fessional life  was  spent,  is  one  of  as  much  natural  beauty  as 
exists  anywhere  in  New  England.  With  its  beauty  is  con- 
nected a  harbor  of  great  capacity  and  entire  security  for 
ships  of  any  supposable  size.  Its  ada[)tation  lor  ship  build- 
ing, the  carrying  trade,  and  fisheries,  is  equaled  by  few 
places. 


JOB  NELSON:  CASTINE,  189 

This  town  was  the  first  in  the  State  that  received  perma- 
nent settlers  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Penobscot  Bay.  It  had 
been  occupied  in  the  seventeenth  century  by  Baron  Castine, 
a  French  gentleman,  through  thirty  or  forty  years,  as  a  tem- 
porary place  of  traffic  with  Indians  by  exchanging  some 
cloths  and  trinkets  of  small  value  for  beaver  and  other  furs. 
By  means  of  this  business  he  became  very  rich,  and  left  the 
fort  which  had  been  erected  by  him  at  large  expense,  and 
which  had  protected  him  against  hostile  attacks  of  Indians 
when  drunk,  as  well  as  against  iDlunderers  of  his  goods  and 
moneys  at  other  times.  The  advantages  which  this  com- 
manding position  offered  were  not  overlooked  by  England 
at  the  period  of  the  American  Revolution.  She  constructed, 
and  her  army  occupied,  an  important  fortification  on  the 
highest  point  of  the  peninsula.  The  noble  harbor,  too,  was 
used  as  a  commanding  position  by  her  navy. 

In  1789,  Castine  was  made  the  shire  town  of  the  new  and 
extensive  County^ of  Hancock,  and  was  constituted  one  of 
the  ports  of  entry  in  the  United  States.  About  this  time, 
Chief  Justice  Isaac  Parker  of  Massachusetts,  who  was  then 
commencing  his  eminent  career  in  the  practice  of  law,  se- 
lected this  town  as  the  most  suitable  place  for  his  future 
professional  labors,  and  here  prosecuted  them  about  ton 
years.  In  this  year,  also,  1790,  Mr.  Nelson,  having  pur- 
sued a  full  term  of  collegiate  study  at  Brown  University  in 
Providence,  Rhode  Island,  and  acquitted  himself  respecta- 
bly as  a  scholar,  received  the  honor  of  that  literary  institu- 
tion in  the  Degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts.  Excited  prospects 
of  rapid  and  great  prosperity  that  must  follow  the  recent 
adoption  of  the  Federal  Constitution,  filled  the  mind  of  al- 
most every  young  man  of  the  United  States,  and  induced 
him  to  hasten  in  selecting  the  course  of  his  future  personal 
employment.  Mr.  Nelson  adoj>tod  the  profession  of  law  as 
best  adapted  to  his  tastes,  and   therefore   commenced  its 


190  JOB   NELSON. 

study  under  the  guidance  of  Hon.  Setli  Paddclford,  at  Taun- 
ton, Massachusetts.  Having  finished  the  usual  })rcpar- 
atory  course  for  admission  to  practice  in  the  judicial  courts 
of  Massachusetts,  he  took  the  oaths  prescribed  by  law,  and 
was  legally  qualified  to  perform  the  duties  of  his  station. 
The  important  question  of  locality,  where  he  miglit  hope  to 
be  most  useful,  and  meet  with  the  best  success  through  the 
vigor  of  his  manhood,  must  now  be  determined.  It  so  hap- 
pened that  some  of  the  prominent  events  that  had  given 
notoriety  to  Castine  in  past  time,  and  held  out  promises  of 
prosperity  for  the  future,  became  known  to  Mr.  Nelson,  and 
fixed  him  in  the  choice  of  that  place  for  his  residence. 
Thereupon,  in  tlie  autumn  of  179-3,  he  proceeded  to  carry 
his  choice  into  effect,  which  he  speedily  accomplished. 
By  this  time  the  reputation  of  Mr.  Parker  as  an  excellent 
advocate  and  sound  lawyer  had  become  so  well  established, 
that  he  was  often  absent  from  Castine  ;  sometimes  attending 
court  on  professional  engagements,  and  sometimes  represent- 
ing his  town  in  the  General  Court  at  Boston.  The  new 
lawyer  was,  therefore,  well  received  and  liberally  employed. 
Mr.  Nelson  soon  acquired  a  good  reputation  for  promptness 
and  fidelity  in  all  business  intrusted  to  him.  Different 
agencies,  also,  of  large  tracts  of  land,  occupied  portions  of 
his  time,  while  they  added  to  his  everyday  home  business, 
and  increased  his  income. 

In  1795,  Mr.  Parker  was  elected  to  fill  tiie  office  of  repre- 
sentative in  the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  and  from 
that  time  he  ceased  to  perform  the  common  duties  of  an 
attorney  at  Castine.  All  of  Mr.  Nelson's  time  and  powers 
of  mind  were  thenceforward  occupied  in  the  discharge  of 
various  duties.  His  fellow-citizens  desired  his  services  as 
their  representative  in  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts, 
which  desire  he  felt  bound  to  gratify,  and  served  them  ac- 
cordingly. In  the  autumn  of  1801,  the  late  William  Ab- 
bot, Es(i.,  having  finished  a  regular  course  of  preparatory 


JOB   NELSON.  191 

study  for  practice  of  law,  came  to  Castine,  opened  an  office, 
and  shared  in  the  professional  business  of  the  place.  Mr. 
Nelson  being  nov^  well  established  in  successful  employ- 
ments, purchased  the  handsome  and  thoroughly-built 
dwelling-house  recently  erected  by  Judge  Parker.  This 
purchase  was  preparatory  to  his  marriage  with  Miss  Mar- 
garet Farwell,  a  lady  of  uncommon  personal  beauty,  with 
corresponding  gracefulness  of  manner  and  ease  in  conver- 
sation. This  marriage  constituted  the  basis  of  the  pride 
and  enjoyment  of  his  subsequent  life.  The  office  of  Judge 
of  Probate  of  Wills,  &c.,  in  and  for  the  County  of  Hancock, 
became  vacant  about  this  time.  Mr.  Nelson's  qualifications, 
combined  with  the  wishes  of  those  gentlemen  who  were  best 
acquainted  with  him,  pointed  him  out  as  the  most  suitable 
person  to  fill  it.  He  accordingly  received  the  appointment 
to  that  office  by  the  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Massachusetts,  as  successor  to  Judge  "William  Wetmore,  in 
1804,  and  discharged  its  duties  in  a  very  acceptable  manner 
through  many  succeeding  years,  until  the  District  of  Maine 
was  separated  from  Massachusetts,  and  assumed  the  position 
of  an  independent  State. 

The  functions  of  his  office  of  Judge  of  Probate  under  the 
government  of  Massachusetts,  therefore,  ceased ;  but  the 
first  Governor  of  Maine, — Hon.  William  King, —  disregard- 
ing the  difference  of  political  opinions  between  himself  and 
Judge  Nelson,  replaced  him  in  the  honorable  office  of  Judge 
of  Probate  under  the  new  Government.  The  duties  of  his 
office  were  performed  by  him  with  all  the  ability  he  had  be- 
fore exercised,  until  the  summer  of  183G.  At  this  period 
he  attained  the  venerable  age  of  seventy  years,  at  which  age 
the  power  of  all  judicial  officers,  excepting  Justices  of  the 
Peace,  ceased  by  reason  of  a  provision  which  then  existed 
in  the  Constitution  of  the  State. 

Tlie  duties  incident  to  the  office  of  Judge  of  Probate  re- 
quired only  a  small  \)iivt  of  his  time,  and  being  in  perfect 


192  JOB   NELSON. 

harmony  with  liis  pursuits  and  employments  as  a  lawyer, 
had  no  influence  prejudicial  to  his  professional  income  or 
improvement.  But  the  amount  of  home  business  at  Castine, 
of  every  kind,  decreased  in  proportion  to  the  more  rapid 
growth  in  business  and  population  of  some  other  towns  that 
border  on  the  waters  of  Penobscot  and  Union  Rivers.  There 
was,  therefore,  a  concurrence  of  circumstances  at  the  time 
when  the  duties  of  Judge  of  Probate  devolved  upon  another 
person,  and  the  home  l)usiness  of  Castine  was  diminished, 
that  harmonized  wdth  the  venerable  years  and  quiet  inclina- 
tions of  Judge  Nelson.  He,  therefore,  withdrew  from  the 
bustle  of  courts,  and  removed  with  his  family  to  Boston, 
where  he  enjoyed  the  society  of  some  select  friends  for  about 
two  years,  when  he  returned  to  Castine.  At  this  time,  feel- 
ing that  a  state  of  entire  quietude  was  better  adapted  to 
meet  the  infirmities  of  old  age,  than  his  present  place  of 
residence,  and  an  unfortunate  occurrence  happening  about 
the  same  time,  the  destruction  by  fire  of  his  fine  mansion, 
endeared  to  him  by  many  fond  associations,  conspired  to  de- 
termine him  to  quit  entirely  the  scene  of  his  early  labors 
and  cares.  And  with  the  serenity  and  cheerfulness  becom- 
ing a  good  man,  he  retired  to  his  farm  in  Orland,  a  town 
pleasantly  situated  on  Penobscot  Bay,  and  overlooking  its 
waters  beautifully  dotted  with  island  gems.  Here  the  re- 
mainder of  his  life  was  calmly  spent  in  the  midst  of  a  loving 
and  delightful  family,  until  he  was  summoned  to  a  higher 
and  better  existence.  He  died  July  2,  1850,  aged  eighty- 
four  :  his  remains  were  taken  to  Castine,  and  buried  in 
the  sepulcher  of  his  family. 

Judge  Nelson  left  five  children,  three  sons,  William,  Ho- 
ratio, and  Henry,  and  two  daughters,  all  in  respectable 
standing  in  society  and  unmarried.  A  son  and  daughter 
died  before  him, —  the  son  left  a  family.  Another  son  died 
recently. 


CHAPTER    XIII 


BENJAMIN    HASEY  —  REUBEN    KIDDER — NATHANIEL   PERLEY  — 
THOMAS   S.  SPARHAWK  —  ALLEN   OILMAN  —  JOHN    HATH- 
AWAY—  ISAAC   STORY  —  EDWARD    P.  HAYMAN 

SAMUEL    P.    GLIDDEN  —  JEREMIAH    BAILEY. 

« 

BENJAMIN     HASEY.      1794  —  1851. 

Benjamin  Hasey  was  a  native  of  Lebanon,  Maine.  His 
father,  Isaac  Hasey,  the  first  minister  of  that  town,  was  born 
in  Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  in 
the  class  of  1762.  He  was  settled  in  Lebanon  in  1765, 
where  his  son  Benjamin  was  born,  July  5th,  1771,  and  was 
named  from  an  uncle,  who  took  his  degree  from  Cambridge 
in  that  year.  His  mother  was'  a  daughter  of  William  Owen 
of  Boston.  Mr.  Hasey,  like  his  father  and  uncle,  was  a 
graduate  of  Harvard,  being  of  the  class  of  1700,  of  which 
one  member  still  survives,  the  venerable  Josiah  Quincy,  the 
oldest  living  graduate,  who,  at  the  age  of  ninety,  is  in  pos- 
session of  the  ripe  faculties  which  liave  given  a  luster  to  his 
name  and  age.  jMr.  Hasey  received  his  prehminary  educa- 
tion at  Dummcr  Academy,  under  the  tuition  of  the  cele- 
brated Master  Moody,  and  entered  college  in  178t). 

Soon  after  leaving  college,  he  entered  the  ollice  of  the  late 


194       BENJAMIN  HASEY  :    LAWYERS  IN  LINCOLN  COUNTY. 

Jiidffc  Thachcr  in  Buldeford  as  a  student,  and  was  admitted 
to  i)racticc  in  April,  1794.  In  June  of  tlie  same  year,  he 
established  himself  at  Topsham,  where  he  continued  to  re- 
side until  his  death,  March  24,  1851,  a  period  of  fifty-seven 
years,  a  single,  as  well  as  a  singular  man.  The  only  lawyers 
in  Lincoln,  exclusive  of  Kennebec  County,  when  he  com- 
menced practice  there,  were  Langdon,  Lee,  and  Manasseh 
Smith,  all  in  Wiscasset. 

Mr.  Hasey  represented  his  town  in  the  legislature  of  Mas- 
sachusetts several  years  before  the  separation  ;  but  he  had 
no  taste  for  politics,  and  he  withdrew  from  all  public  em- 
ployment. He  was  fifteen  years  one  of  the  trustees  of 
Bowdoin  College.  Reserved  and  retired  in  his  habits,  he 
became  more  so  as  he  left  the  common  highway  so  much 
frequented  by  lawyers  and  politicians.  It  was  not  unnatural 
that  a  man  of  his  sensitive  nature  should  have  shrunk  from 
scenes  which  are  often  contaminated  by  low  intrigues  and 
self-seeking  arts.  Of  the  most  rigid  integrity,  regular  and 
quiet  in  all  his  modes  of  thought  and  action,  nothing  dis- 
turbed him  more  than  the  cant  of  demagogues.  As  may 
be  supposed,  he  was  strongly  conservative, — change  was  dis- 
tasteful to  him.  This  may  be  a  reason  why  he  never  mar- 
ried. For  more  than  thirty-eight  years  he  boarded  in  the 
same  family,  and  for  many  years  he  occupied  the  same  office, 
to  which  he  daily  resorted  until  within  a  few  days  of  his 
death,  in  the  same  manner  as  when  he  was  in  practice.  But 
with  all  his  peculiarities,  he  was  ever  to  be  relied  upon  ;  his 
word  was  sacred,  his  act  just^  his  deportment  blameless. 
As  a  counsellor,  his  opinions  were  sound  and  much  valued, 
and  for  many  years  he  had  an  extensive  practice  in  the 
counties  of  Lincoln  and  Cumberland.  We  remember  the 
prim,  snug-built,  and  neatly  dressed  gentleman,  with  his 
g-reen  satchel  in  hand,  according  to  the  usage  of  that  day, 
taking  his  seat  at  the  bar,  and  waiting  calmly  for  the  order 


BENJAMIN    HASEY.  195 

of  his  business  :  he  rarely  appeared  as  an  advocate,  his 
natural  diffidence  and  reserve  disqualifying  him  for  any  dis- 
play. Many  years  before  his  death  he  left  the  active  duties 
of  the  profession  ;  the  innovations  which  were  taking  place 
in  tlie  manners  and  course  of  practice  at  the  bar,  were  ill- 
suited  to  his  delicate  and  conservative  feelings.  The  want 
of  ancient  decorum  and  respect,  the  absence  of  forensic 
courtesy,  fretted  upon  his  nerves.  The  abolishing  of  special 
pleading  annoyed  him,  and  the  revision  and  codification  of 
the  statutes  thoroughly  confused  his  habitual  notions  of 
practice,  displaced  his  accustomed  authorities,  and  cast  him 
afloat  in  his  old  age  on  what  seemed  a  new  profession.  He 
lived  in  the  past  and  believed  in  it,  and  strove  as  much  as 
mortal  could  to  keep  himself  from  the  degeneracy  of  modern 
ideas.  Mr.  Hasey,  at  the  time  of  his  death,  was  the  oldest 
surviving  lawyer  in  the  State  ;  when  he  commenced  practice 
the  whole  number  was  but  seventeen,  all  of  whom  he  sur- 
vived except  Judge  Wilde,  who  had  removed  from  the  State. 
The  Hon.  Frederic  Allen,  his  cotemporary  in  Lincoln 
County,  has  furnished  the  following  well-considered  estimate 
of  Mr.  Hasey's  character  and  standing :  "  He  was  well 
versed  in  the  ])rinciples  of  the  common  law.  His  reading 
was  extensive,  both  legal  and  miscellaneous.  His  memory 
was  tenacious,  his  habits  studious.  In  his  person,  though 
very  small  in  stature,  he  was  of  the  most  perfect  formation, 
and  always  most  neatly  attired.  He  had  much  good  sense, 
was  a  strict  adherent  to  the  old  federal  party,  from  whose 
leading  opinions,  so  long  as  the  party  had  a  distinctive  ex- 
istence, he  never  wavered,  and  had  little  charity  for  those 
who  did.  He  was  not  much  employed  as  an  advocate  :  he 
generally  argued  not  over  one  case  a  year,  and  that  was 
done  very  well.  His  address  to  the  jury  was  brief,  free  from 
all  repetition,  or  copious  illustration.     He  left  the  world  in 


19G  REUBEN    KIDDER. 

the  same  apparent  quietude  in  which  he  had  lived,  leaving 
a  name  much  honored,  and  a  character  highly  respected."^ 

REUBEN     KIDDER.       1795  —  1816. 

Three  graduates  from  Dartmouth  College,  in  the  class  of 
1791,  established  themselves  in  the  practice  of  law  in  this 
State  about  the  same  time,  1795  or  '96, — Reuben  Kidder 
at  AVaterville,  Nathaniel  Perley  at  Hallowell,  and  Thomas 
S.  Sparhawk  at  Bucksport.  Mr.  Kidder  was  a  descendant 
in  the  fifth  generation  from  James  Kidder,  who  migrated  to 
this  country  from  East  Grinsted,  a  considerable  town  in  Sus- 
sex County,  about  thirty  miles  south  of  London.  The  fam- 
ily had  long  resided  and  maintained  a  respectable  position 
in  that  town.  James,  the  ancestor,  was  born  there  in  1G26, 
and  was  in  Cambridge,  ^lassachusetts,  in  the  year  1649, 
when  he  married  Anna  Moore  of  that  place.  He  moved  to 
Billerica,  where  he  died,  in  1676.  The  family  remained 
over  one  hundred  years  in  that  town.  The  subject  of  this 
sketch  was  the  sixth  child  of  Reuben  and  Susannah  (Burge) 
Kidder,  who  moved  to  New  Ipswich,  in  New  Hampshire,  in 
1750,  and  were  among  the  first  settlers  of  that  place.  They 
had  twelve  children,  many  of  whom  attained  a  great  age  : 
seven  of  the  eight  daughters,  in  1844,  met  at  the  house  of 
one  of  their  number,  whose  united  ages  were  five  hundred 
and  thirty-two  years,  giving  an  average  of  seventy-six  years. 
The  eldest  was  ninety. 

Reuben  Kidder  was  born  in  New  Ipswich,  April  3,  1768. 
After  taking  his  degree  in  1791,  he  qualified  himself  for  the 
profession  of  the  law,  was  admitted  to  practice  in  usual 
course,  and  established  himself  at  Waterville  in  the  spring 
of  1795,  the  first  lawyer  who  adventured  so  far  north,  into 
what  was  then  almost  a  wilderness.     The  town  of  Winslow, 

'  Sixth  Vuluino  Maine  Hihlorical  Collections,  p.  54. 


REUBEN    KIDDER  :    WATERVILLE.  197 

of  which  Waterville  was  a  part,  contained  in  1790  but  seven 
hundred  and  seventy-nine  inhabitants,  and  in  1800,  but  one 
thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty.  AVni.  Hodge,  a  graduate 
of  Harvard  in  1791,  had  preceded  Kidder  to  Waterville  a 
short  time  before,  but  had  become  discouraged,  and  left  the 
place,  into  which  Kidder  stepped,  in  advance  of  Thomas 
Rice,  who  had  intended  to  occupy  it,  but  arrived  four  days 
too  late.  It  would  hardly  seem  to  have  been  an  object  of 
much  competition  ;  but  the  loss  of  it  was  a  sore  disappoint- 
ment to  the  young  aspirant  who  was  seeking,  as  is  seen  in 
our  notice  of  him,  some  spot  to  spread  his  unfledged  wings. 
Mr.  Kidder  sought  the  consolations  of  a  companion  in  his 
solitude,  and  soon  married  Miss  Lois  Crosby,  avIio  became 
the  mother  of  four  children,  of  whom  George  and  Henry 
died  young.  Camillus  is  settled  in  Baltimore,  and  Jerome 
(t.  is  a  merchant  in  Boston.  ]\[rs.  Kidder  died  in  1809. 
In  1816,  Mr.  Kidder  was  touched  with  the  "  western  fever," 
which  at  that  time  prevailed  in  Maine,  and  tliought  to  bet- 
ter his  fortune  by  transferring  himself  to  the  prairies  of  the 
west.  He  moved  to  New  Harmony,  in  Indiana,  a  place  ren- 
dered memorable  by  Robert  Dale  Owen,  as  the  seat  of  his 
captivating  "  social  system."  But  his  hopes  were  not  real- 
ized ;  like  many  others  of  our  people  who  sought  to  better 
their  condition  V)y  leaving  the  more  sterile  fields,  but  healthy 
climate,  of  our  hardy  north,  for  the  sickly  thougli  produc- 
tive meadows  of  the  west,  he  was  doomed  to  sadness  and  dis- 
appointment. He  died  in  1817,  the  year  after  his  removal. 
Mr.  Kidder  was  a  man  of  good  personal  appearance,  much 
general  information,  and  fine  colloquial  ])owers.  His  wit 
and  humor  were  conspicuous  ;  they  pervaded  him,  appearing 
in  his  countenance  and  gestures,  as  well  as  in  his  utterance. 
One  who  remembers  him  at  the  bar  gives  me  the  following 
account  of  him  : — "  He  would  change  his  countenance  into 
sucli  a  sly,  facetious  expression — so  unique  and  inimitable, 


198  REUBEN   KIDDER. 

that  it  reminded  one  of  Drummond's  famous  laugh  in  the 
theater  of  London,  which  set  the  audience  in  a  roar — spok- 
en of  in  Cumberland's  Memoirs.  The  most  stern  visage 
would  relax  the  moment  Mr.  Kidder  imagined  a  joke.  You 
saw  it  dawning  in  his  looks,  and  when  it  rose  full  upon  you, 
you  felt  a  glow  of  real  pleasure.  There  was  no  ill-nature 
in  his  M'it ;  it  was  brilliant,  but  harmless.  I  remember  an 
amusing  circumstance  when  I  was  a  student  in  Wilde  and 
Bond's  office  in  Hallowcll.  The  court  was  sitting  in  Augus- 
ta ;  the  members  of  the  bar  were  seated  around  the  oblong 
table  covered  with  green  baize,  and  waiting  the  call  of  the 
docket ;  Mr.  Kidder  was  resting  his  head  on  the  table,  and 
asleep.  An  action  against  the  '  inhabitants  of  Waterville  ' 
was  called.  Mr.  Kidder  was  the  counsel,  but  no  one  an- 
swered. The  call  was  repeated,  and  there  being  no  response, 
the  court  ordered  the  action  to  be  disposed  of,  and  the  crier 
called,  in  a  loud,  shrill  voice,  the  inhabitants  of  Waterville 
to  come  into  court,  and  show  cause  why  their  default  should 
not  be  recorded,  when  the  sleeper  started  up  from  his  slum- 
ber, and  rubbing  his  eyes,  exclaimed,  '  Here  are  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Waterville,'  when  Nat  Perley,  the  great  wit  of  the" 
bar,  started  back,  and  cried  out,  '  For  mercy's  sake.  Brother 
Kidder,  don't  let  any  of  them  get  on  me.'  The  court  and 
bar  joined  heartily  in  the  joke."  ' 

Mr.  Kidder  was  a  man  of  abilities,  and  had  considerable 
business  at  the  bar,  and  was  much  respected  for  his  gentle- 
manly qualities  and  his  integrity  of  character  ;  but  he  did 
not  attain  eminence  as  an  advocate.  He  engaged  in  some 
speculations,  one  of  which  was  the  establishment  of  a  smelt- 
ing furnace  and  foundry  on  the  Sebasticook  River,  near 
which  was  a  bed  of  iron  ore.  It  proved  unfortunate,  and 
the  persons  engaged  in  it  lost  the  capital  invested. 

'  Manuscript  letter  from  .John  IT.  Sheppard,  Esq. 


REUBEN    KIDDER:    NATHANIEL    PERLEY.  199 

Another  cotemporary,  William  Allen,  thus  speaks  of 
Mr.  Kidder :  "  He  was  a  sound  and  good  lawyer ;  and 
in  person  of  more  than  medium  size,  a  little  stooping. 
He  was  honorable  in  his  profession,  and  was  a  man  of 
fine  tastes  ;  he  set  out  a  grove  of  oaks  half  a  mile  from 
the  village  of  Waterville,  to  which  he  often  repaired 
in  summer  from  the  heat,  and  called  it  his  Athenaeum.  He 
used  to  wear  a  bouquet  in  summer  at  his  button  hole." 


I  am  indebted  to  my  friend,  Charles  Dummer,  Esq.,  of 
Hallowell,  for  this  interesting  sketch  of  Mr.  Perley. 

NATHANIEL     PERLEY.      17  9  5  —  1824. 

Nathaniel  Perley,  formerly  of  Hallowell  in  the  county  of 
Kennebec,  was  born  in  the  town  of  Boxford,  county  of 
Essex,  and  Commonwealth  of  Massachusetts,  about  1770. 
Having  passed  successfully  the  period  of  preparation  for  a 
liberal  education,  he  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College,  17U1. 
Entering  at  once  upon  the  study  of  the  law,  he  completed 
the  term  required  for  admission  to  the  bar  in  Massachusetts, 
and  in  1795  commenced  the  practice  of  law  at  Hallowell, 
then  a  thriving  settlement  on  the  Kennebec  River  ;  this 
place,  doubtless,  attracting  his  attention  as  well  from  the 
intelligence  and  energy  of  its  early  inhabitants  as  the 
advantages  which  it  presented  for  trade  and  future  commer- 
cial conse\:iuence.  The  fact,  however,  that  others  with 
whom  he  was  probably  acciuainted,  from  the  same  county  of 
Essex,  had  preceded  him  as  residents  of  Hallowell,  no  doubt 
materially  influenced  his  own  determination.  For  some 
time  he  was  the  only  one  in  the  place.  Intelligent,  full  of 
life,  possessing  high  social  qualities,  he  gathered  around 
him  many  friends,  and  very  soon  he  found  himself  actively 


200  NATHANIEL   PERLEY. 

engaged  in  the  professional  responsibilities  of  life.  This 
current  of  business  continued  to  enlarge  with  the  growth 
of  the  community  around  him.  Steadfast  friends,  uninter- 
rupted health,  and  persevering  application  gave  encourage- 
ment to  all  his  hopes.  He  was  distinguished  for  sound  com- 
mon sense  ;  he  possessed  varied  powers  ;  his  quickness  of  per- 
ception and  constant  good  humor  attracted  early  attention  ; 
and  unfortunately,  as  I  believe,  commended  him  to  too 
much  notice  as  a  wit.  The  progress  of  years  in  his  profes- 
sional life  soon  developed  the  fact  that  he  was  acquiring 
property.  Without  marked  distinction  for  legal  learning, 
he  would  be  more  truthfully  described  as  a  successful  prac- 
titioner of  law,  maintaining  a  respectable  position,  whether 
discharging  faithfully  the  duty  which  grows  out  of  the  or- 
dinary collection  of  debts,  or  unfolding  the  powers  of  argu- 
ment before  a  jury  or  the  court.  The  course  of  events  in 
his  life  justifies,  I  think,  the  remark,  that  he  became  too 
lavish  of  his  legal  opinions ;  his  friends  partook  too  freely 
of  the  benefit  of  his  knowledge  without  compensation  ;  he 
himself,  at  the  same  time,  forgetful  of  that  respect  which 
was  due  both  to  himself  and  his  profession.  Overlooking 
the  vital  necessity  of  steady  application,  lie  yielded  to  the 
pleasures  of  mere  social  ease,  by  which  the  strength  of  his 
reputation  as  a  lawyer  was  weakened.  Insensibly  to  him- 
self, he  professionally  lost  his  hold  upon  the  better  portion 
of  the  business  pul)lic.  Having  accumulated  considerable 
property,  he  was  induced  to  embark  in  schemes  which  re- 
quired much  of  his  attention  outside  of  his  office.  At  first, 
he  was  successful ;  but  entering  still  further  upon  larger 
operations,  the  results  were  painfully  decisive  upon  his  pro- 
fessional prospects.  His  business  as  a  lawyer  did  not  merely 
decline  ;  it  was  lost :  stern  pecuniary  ditriculties  met  him 
while  in  the  path  he  had  now  chosen.  Bereft  of  that  buoy- 
ancy of  spirit   whicli   marked   his   temperament,   without 


NATHANIEL    PERLEY.  201 

practical  knowledge  amidst  the  realities  which  then  sur- 
rounded him,  despondency  settled  upon  his  mind  and  pros- 
pects. Always  sustained  by  the  affections  of  a  faithful  wife 
and  children,  the  cheerful  light  of  a  once  happy  dwelling 
was  gradually  extinguished.  Mr.  Perley  died  about  the 
year  1824.  The  remote  cause  of  his  death  was  thought  to 
proceed  from  an  injury  which  he  received,  when  with  his 
workmen  who  were  blasting  stone,  with  the  view  of  con- 
ducting water  from  a  pond  to  a  grist-mill  which  he  was 
erecting  in  the  town  of  Winthrop,  about  ten  miles  west  of 
Hallowell.  Unfortunately  he  was  so  near  the  work  at  the 
moment  of  explosion  as  to  be  struck  upon  the  chest  by  a 
large  stone. 

Mr.  Perley's  position  as  a  lawyer,  during  a  large  portion 
of  his  life,  was  respectable.  He  was  in  the  midst  of  friends 
who  were  constant  while  he  continued  personally  attentive 
to  his  professional  business.  The  judges  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Massachusetts,  while  on  their  tours  of  public  duty, 
were  frequently  welcomed  at  his  house.  One,  the  late  dis- 
tinguished Chief  Justice  Parsons,  himself  a  native  of  Essex 
County,  held  a  relation  to  him  of  marked  kindness  and  re- 
gard, —  the  chief  justice  with  his  wife,  upon  more  than  one 
occasion,  sharing  the  cordial  hospitality  of  Mr.  Perley's 
liousehold  ;  while  tradition  adds,  Mr.  Perley's  colloquial 
powers  and  wit  possessed  great  attractions  for  the  chief 
justice  himself.  Occasions  for  friendly,  social  intercourse 
readily  offered,  as  the  courts  for  the  county  of  Kennebec 
were  held  at  Augusta,  a  distance  of  two  miles  only  from 
Hallowell. 

In  gathering  the  fragments  of  the  past  which  illustrate 
the  character  of  Mr.  Perley  as  a  man  and  a  lawyer,  I  can 
add,  that  had  he  remained  faithful  to  the  noble  objects  of  a 
true  professional  life,  had  he  diligently  strengthened  his 
mind  by  study,  and   adhered   witli  moral  strength  to  liis 

14 


202  NATHANIEL   PERLEY. 

duties  as  a  lawyer,  he  would  have  gathered  the  fruits  of 
honorable  labor  and  eminence, — all  would  have  been  finally 
well.  Possessing  great  quickness  of  perception,  his  free 
social  habits  were  both  an  attraction  and  temptation.  Who, 
in  the  pursuits  of  life,  can  successfully  dispense  with  indus- 
try, or  habits  of  care  and  accurate  attention  ?  A  marked 
characteristic  of  his  mind  was  a  sort  of  natural  wit,  or  gift  of 
repartee.  Tradition  supplies  many  of  his  smart  and  ready 
answers  and  sayings,  but  rarely  have  I  found  anything  which 
could  be  worthily  rescued  from  oblivion.  However  gratify- 
ing such  utterances  may  be  to  the  many,  I  regard  this  char- 
acteristic of  Mr.  Perley's  taste  and  mind,  a  talent,  not  mere- 
ly a  questionable  gift,  and,  as  used  by  him,  was  generally 
highly  injurious  in  its  influence. 

A  celebrated  ambassador  of  the  last  age,  when  told  what 
a  clever  boy  his  son  was,  exclaimed,  "  I  would  rather  you 
had  told  me  how  industrious  he  was."  The  same  writer  on 
law  education  further  states,  "  Sir  Henry  Wotton,  the 
famous  Provost  of  Eton  College,  we  are  told  by  Aubrey, 
could  not  abide  wits.  When  any  young  scholar  was  com- 
mended to  him  as  a  wit,  he  would  say, '  Out  upon  him  !  I 
will  have  nothing  to  do  with  him ;  give  me  the  plodding 
student ! '  "  The  well-known  Judge  Doddcridge  declares 
that  he  found  by  experience,  that  "  among  a  number  of 
quick  wits  in  youth,  few  are  found,  in  the  end,  very  fortu- 
nate for  themselves,  or  very  profitable  to  the  common- 
wealth." 

One  characteristic  of  Mr.  Perley's  wit  should  be  noted, — 
he  appeared,  himself,  wholly  unconscious  of  any  such  power 
of  utterance.  Unmoved  himself,  and  even  sedate  in  man- 
ner, he  seemed  surprised,  at  the  moment,  with  the  delight 
which  the  circle  around  him  manifested.  His  high  social 
qualities,  united  with  distinguished  colloquial  powers  and 
great  kindness  of  feeling,  very  naturally  drew  around  him 


NATHANIEL   PERLEY.  203 

many  friends,  who  often  beguiled  him  of  time  which  should 
have  been  given  to  the  stern  duties  of  life. 

The  following  incident  will  show  Mr.  Perley's  prompt 
ability  to  reply.  In  the  course  of  his  professional  duties,  he 
was  engaged  in  the  trial  of  an  action  of  replevin  before 
Judge  Weston,  who  was  tlien  upon  the  bench  of  the  old 
Court  of  Common  Pleas.  Mr,  Perley's  client  had  attached 
a  quantity  of  logs  as  belonging  to  Mr.  N.,  which  logs  were 
also  claimed  by  another  Mr.  N.,  and  the  letter  N  was  the 
mark  upon  all  the  logs.  The  case  was  warmly  contested. 
An  important  witness  had  been  under  examination  between 
two  and  three  hours,  when  the  court  adjourned  for  dinner. 
Immediately  upon  resuming  the  case  at  the  opening  of  the 
court  in  the  afternoon,  Mr.  Perley  requested  that  the  same 
witness  might  be  called,  when  Judge  Weston  remarked  that 
this  witness  had  been  a  long  time  on  the  stand,  and  very 
closely  examined,  adding,  "  Brother  Perley,  what  further 
do  you  expect  to  obtain  from  him  ?  "  Mr.  Perley's  prompt 
reply  was,  "  The  truth, your  Honor:  I  have  obtained  every- 
thing else." 

Mr.  Perley  was  faithful  and  firm  in  advancing  the  public 
interests  of  the  town  where  he  resided  ;  he  represented  it 
in  the  General  Court  in  1804  and  1816.  He  discharged 
with  integrity  all  his  political  duties.  Uniformly  patriotic, 
with  enlightened  zeal  he  always  upheld  the  best  interests  of 
our  country.  I  find  he  was  member  of  a  committee  of 
three  (the  other  two  members  being  the  late  John  Davis, 
Esq.,  of  Augusta,  for  many  years  clerk  of  the  coui'tsfor  the 
county  of  Kennebec,  and  the  late  Williams  Emmons,  Esq., 
then  of  Augusta,  and  at  one  period  judge  of  i)robate  for  the 
county  of  Kennebec),  who  invited  the  llev.  Dr.  Tappan  of 
Augusta  to  deliver  an  address  before  the  Washington  Benev- 
olent Society  of  Kennebec,  at  the  celebration  of  peace  with 
England,  March  2, 1815.     The  only  survivor  of  Mr.  l^erley's 


204  NATHANIEL   PERLEY. 

family,  at  this  time,  is  a  daughter,  Mrs.  Dumont,  who  mar- 
ried the  late  John  P.  Dumont,  Esq.,  for  many  years  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Kennebec  Bar,  and  a  resident  of  Hallowell,  and 
who  served,  also,  both  as  a  representative  and  senator,  at 
different  periods,  in  the  legislature  of  Maine.  Mr.  Fcrley, 
at  the  time  of  his  decease,  left  a  widow  and  five  children, 
all  of  whom,  with  the  exception  of  one  daughter,  Mrs.  Du- 
mont, have  since  died,  —  two  sons,  two  daughters,  and  his 
widow. 

Judge  Wilde,  late  a  distinguished  judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Massachusetts,  was  for  many  years  an  eminent 
lawyer  in  Maine,  and  a  resident  of  Hallowell,  where  he  con- 
tinued until  the  separation  of  the  District  of  Maine,  when, 
in  1820,  he  removed  to  Newburyport,  Massachusetts.  There 
is  a  tradition  that  soon  after  Judge  Wilde  commenced  his 
residence  at  Hallowell,  he  proposed  to  Mr.  Perley  a  profes- 
sional business  connection.  It  is  possible  that  mutual  friends 
may  have  suggested  such  an  arrangement  from  considera- 
tions growing  out  of  tlie  facts  that  Judge  Wilde's  great 
ability  often  called  him  to  appear  before  the  courts  in  dis- 
tant counties,  while  a  prosperous  collecting  business  re- 
quired Mr.  Perley  to  be  constantly  present  in  his  office. 
But  I  do  not  find  sufficient  authority  for  the  statement  that 
Judge  Wilde  ever  made  such  a  proposal,  and  it  is  certain 
that  such  a  business  connection  was  never  formed. 

In  presenting,  for  your  consideration,  this  sketch  of  the 
character  of  a  man  of  education,  permit  me,  in  conclusion, 
to  add  that  Mr.  Perley  possessed  various  and  vigorous  powers 
of  mind.  At  the  outset  of  his  professional  life,  many  ad- 
vantages met  him  in  the  way.  With  ability  to  discern  the 
right,  he  could,  with  learning  and  steady  application,  have 
reached  a  position  of  high  respectability  among  the  earlier 
lawyers  in  this  part  of  the  State  of  Maine.  When  we  look 
at  what  he  actually  accomplished,  what  is  the  admonition  to 


NATHANIEL   PERLEY.  205 

the  living  ?  To  the  young,  entering  upon  professional  life, 
I  would  say,  cherish  and  strengthen  every  moral  element  of 
character ;  cultivate  habits  of  industry  and  careful  atten- 
tion ;  day  by  day  discharge  with  fidelity  every  obligation  of 
duty  ;  never  turn  aside  from  the  high  and  true  purposes  of 
the  profession  ;  aim  to  be  useful  rather  than  conspicuous ; 
value  the  acquisitions  of  learning  ;  hold  fast  your  integrity, 
and  preserve  the  freshness  and  purity  of  the  aifections. 
Clothed  in  such  armor  for  the  battle  of  life,  a  lawyer  in 
every  generation  and  in  all  his  influence,  will  be  found  a 
blessing  and  a  light  in  every  community,  where  the  bounds 
of  his  habitation  are  fixed.  In  the  language  of  that  great 
and  good  man,  Chief  Justice  Hale,  "  Speed,  then,  the  spirit 
of  education.  Let  the  mind  be  cultivated ;  let  it  be  opened 
to  see  that  there  is  the  better  and  the  right,  and  so  expanded 
as  to  see  that  the  right  is  ever  the  better,  must  ever  be  so, 
and  that  to  find  it  is  highest  privilege,  and  true  honor  to 
resolve  to  brave  any  difficulty  and  overcome  ^cvery  obstacle 
to  ascertain  it ;  and  tlien  to  do  it,  even  at  the  cost  of  the 
cutting  off  a  right  hand  or  plucking  out  a  right  eye,  is 
highest  honor  and  noblest  conduct,  and  must  result  in 
brightest  attainments  of  excellence  and  happiness,  giving 
best  success  in  this  life,  and  glory  hereafter." 

I  add  to  this  interesting  notice  of  Mr.  Perley,  the  testi- 
mony of  a  distinguished  cotemporary,  Mr.  Allen  of  Gardiner. 
In  his  sketches  of  deceased  lawyers  of  the  Lincoln  Bar,  pub- 
lished in  the  Sixth  Volume  of  the  Maine  Historical  Collec- 
tions, he  says  of  Mr.  Perley,  "  He  was  distinguished  for 
his  wit  and  broad  humor,  —  for  his  jokes  and  cutting  re- 
partees at  the  bar.  As  a  sample,  an  instance  is  recollected. 
When  one  of  the  four  judges  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  not  remarkable  for  his  profundity,  coming  late  into 
court,  observed,  as  an  apology,  on  taking  his  seat,  that  he 
believed  there  was  no  member  of  the  court  less  absent  than 


206  NATHANIEL   PERLEY  :    THOMAS   S.  SPARHAWK. 

himself.  '  True,'  replied  Perlcy,  '  and  no  one  less  pres- 
ent.' "  Mr.  Allen  adds,  that  for  many  years  Mr.  Pcrley  had 
an  extensive  practice  at  the  bar,  but  in  the  latter  part  of 
his  professional  career,  his  practice  declined.  With  many 
amiable  and  amusing  qualities,  he  was  popular  with  a  class 
of  clients,  but  those  not  of  the  first  order. 


The  lion.  Jacob  McGaw  of  Bangor  has  favored  me  with 
the  following  notice  of  Mr.  Sparhawk,  one  of  his  early  co- 
temporaries. 

THOMAS     STEARNS     SPARHAWK.      1796—180  7. 

Thomas  Stearns  Sparhawk  was  a  son  of  Rev.  Ebenezer 
Sparhawk  of  Tcmpleton,  Massachusetts,  the  respected  Con- 
gregational clergyman  of  that  town  forty-four  years,  from 
17G0  ;  and  was  jjorn  there  in  1769. 

This  parent  partook  largely  of  the  noble  element  that 
characterizes  New  England  fathers  ;  even  while  struggling 
with  poverty,  they  aimed  to  prepare  their  sons,  by  education, 
to  rise  to  usefulness  and  honor,  when  they  attained  maturity 
of  years.  He,  therefore,  spared  no  efforts  to  aid  this  son  in 
acquiring  a  collegiate  education.  By  rigid  economy  he  was 
enabled  to  prepare  him  to  enter  Dartmouth  College,  and  to 
assist  in  the  payment  of  his  expenses  while  an  under-grad- 
uate.  In  1791,  Thomas,  having  acquitted  himself  honora- 
bly in  all  respects,  through  the  whole  term  of  his  connection 
with  college,  received  the  Degree  of  Bachelor  of  Arts. 

From  tliis  time  forward  the  burden  of  self-support  de- 
volved entirely  upon  himself  Tlie  readiest  mode  of  paying 
for  present  expenses  and  providing  means  for  the  future 
conditions  of  his  life,  seemed  to  him  to  be  school  teaching. 
These  duties  he  commenced  without  delay,   and  pursued 


THOMAS   S.  SPARHAWK  :    BUCKSPORT.  207 

them  successfully  to  his  scholars  and  respectably  to  himself, 
almost  two  years.  Then,  having  fixed  upon  the  profession  of 
law  for  the  employment  of  his  talents  through  subsequent 
life,  as  best  adapted  to  his  taste,  he  engaged  with  ardor  in 
searching  out  and  understanding  its  varied  principles. 

After  completing  a  regular  course  of  preparatory  study, 
he  was  admitted  at  a  term  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
in  the  summer  of  179G,  to  practice  at  the  bar  of  the  judicial 
courts  in  Massachusetts.  Buckstown,  now  Bucksport,  in 
the  then  District  of  Maine,  had  been  incorporated  as  a  town 
about  four  years.  Its  fine  location  at  the  head  of  Penob- 
scot Bay,  with  an  excellent  harbor  and  sufficient  depth  of 
water  for  the  accommodation  of  ships  of  the  largest  burden, 
had  begun  to  attract  the  attention  of  adventurers  and  en- 
terprising men  of  various  occupations  in  life.  Navigators, 
fishermen,  traders,  mechanics,  professional  men,  and  others 
were  seeking,  in  that  new  country,  opportunities  for  employ- 
ment. 

Mr.  Sparhawk,  believing  in  the  prospective  importance  of 
the  town  at  some  future  day  not  far  distant,  immediately 
took  up  his  residence,  and  opened  the  first  law  office  that 
was  located  there,  and  identified  himself  with  the  town,  its 
inhabitants  and  interests.  Having  thus  commenced  and 
engaged  in  the  activities  of  manhood,  he  received  the  con- 
fidence, friendship,  and  professional  support  of  the  existing 
population,  both  of  the  town  and  the  circumjacent  territory, 
which  was  sparse  and  scattered. 

A  just  appreciation  of  the  responsibilities  that  he  had  per- 
manently assumed,  induced  him  promptly  to  make  arrange- 
ments for  carrying  out  the  allotments  of  Providence  in  regard 
to  these  responsibilities  in  the  manner  tliat,  in  his  opinion, 
would  best  subserve  his  own  honor  and  the  welfare  of  society. 
He,  therefore,  in  May,  1707,  consummated  the  contract  of 
marriage  that  he  had  previously  entered  into  with  Miss  Mary 


208  THOMAS   S.    SPARHAWK. 

Kinsman  of  Hanover,  New  Hampshire,  by  making  her  his 
wife.  She  was  the  daughter  of  Colonel  Kinsman,  a  respec- 
table inhabitant,  possessing  a  good  estate  in  that  town,  and 
sister  of  Dr.  Aaron  Kinsman,  an  eminent  physician  in  Port- 
land, who  died  in  1808.  Miss  Kinsman  was  a  young  lady 
of  handsome  person,  respectable  attainments,  well  calculated 
to  become  an  excellent  wife  and  to  promote  the  happiness 
of  her  husband.  Up  to  this  time,  only  two  lawyers  had  their 
homes  in  the  whole  region  embraced  in  the  valley  of  the 
Penobscot  Bay  and  River.  Tliese  two  gentlemen  both  re- 
sided in  Castine,  which  is  about  twenty  miles  from  Bucks- 
town.  The  people  had  heretofore  been  little  accustomed  to 
litigation,  and  not  much  inclined  to  it ;  nor  was  Mr.  Spar- 
hawk  disposed  to  encourage  that  pernicious  habit.  His  in- 
clination was  to  promote  the  permanent  happiness  and 
prosperity  of  everybody  living  within  the  reach  of  his  influ- 
ence, hoping  and  expecting  to  receive  his  full  share  of  the 
blessing  that  would  bo  conferred  upon  others  through  his 
instrumentality.  The  confidence,  friendship,  and  profes- 
sional support  of  his  neighbors,  as  also  of  tlie  inhabitants  of 
the  circumjacent  settlements,  were  enjoyed  by  Mr.  Spar- 
hawk.  His  business,  though  not  large,  afforded  himself  and 
family  a  comfortable  support,  and  enabled  him  to  construct 
a  respectable  mansion  for  the  present  condition  of  his  family. 
Litigation  not  being  rife  within  the  limits  of  his  practice, 
the  talents  of  Mr.  Sparhawk,  as  an  advocate,  were  seldom 
demanded,  nor  did  he  make  large  pretensions  in  that  depart- 
ment. Persons  competent  to  judge,  suppose  that  he  would 
not  have  attained  eminence  in  it  even  if  he  had  attempted 
it.  Mr.  Sparhawk,  through  the  whole  period  of  his  profes- 
sional life,  discharged  the  duties  of  everyday  practice  re- 
lating to  the  common  concerns  among  neighbors  in  a  very 
acceptable  manner.  His  opinions  in  regard  to  questions  of 
considerable  intricacy  were  well  received  and  respected. 


THOMAS   S.    SPARHAWK:    ALLEN   OILMAN.  209 

His  health  became  delicate  in  1806,  but  he  was  able  to 
perforin  the  services  that  he  had  been  accustomed  to  attend 
to  from  the  period  of  his  first  residence  in  Bucksport,  until 
1807,  when  he  was  released  from  all  earthly  cares  by  a 
peaceful  death. 

Very  early  in  the  nineteenth  century  there  was  a  sudden 
and  numerous  influx  of  population  into  most  of  the  towns 
that  bordered  on  the  waters  of  Penobscot  Bay  and  River. 
Lawyers  of  very  respectable  attainments  and  distinction 
settled  in  several  of  these  towns,  but  none  of  them  made 
his  home  at  the  quiet,  industrious  town  of  Bucksport,  or 
came  into  conflict  with  Mr.  Sparhawk,  until  the  closing 
years  of  his  life. 

Good  humor  and  ready  wit,  made  him  a  cheerful  com- 
panion and  pleasant  neighbor  to  those  persons  who  had  the 
benefit  of  being  acquainted  with  him. 

Mr.  Sparhawk  left  five  children,  three  sons  and  two 
daughters.  William,  the  eldest,  was  lost  at  sea.  Edward 
Vernon  was  a  literary  gentleman,  resided  awhile  in  Montreal, 
and  afterwards  became  an  editor  of  a  paper  in  Richmond, 
Virginia.  Another,  George,  had  the  same  tastes,  and  became 
an  editor  of  the  "  Oakland  Whig,"  in  Pontiac,  Michigan. 
His  daughter  Maria  Louisa  was  a  highly  cultivated  lady, 
and  the  author  of  several  works ;  she  married  Charles  Fox 
of  Boston.     The  other  daughter,  Lucia  K.,  is  unmarried. 

ALLEN     OILMAN.       179G— 1846. 

Allen  Gilman  was  the  first  lawyer  who  established  him- 
self in  Bangor,  where  now  they  exist  so  abundantly,  lie 
went  to  that  part  of  Orrington  which  is  now  Brewer  in  1800, 
and  to  Bangor  in  1801.  Tliat  town  then  had  less  than  three* 
hundred  inhabitants  ;  ho  lived  to  sec  it  a  full-grown  city,  of 
which  he  became  the  first  Muyor.     Mr.  Gilman  was  the  third 


210  ALLEN  GILMAN. 

son  of  John  Ward  Gilman  and  Hannah  Emery,  and  was  born 
in  Exeter,  New  Hampshire,  July  16, 1773.  His  grandfather 
was  Major  John  Gihnan,  who  was  an  ofl&cer  in  the  expedition 
to  Louisburg  in  1745,  and  in  the  French  War.  His  mater- 
nal grandfather  was  the  Rev.  Stephen  Emery  of  Chatham, 
Massachusetts,  whose  wife  was  the  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Benjamin  Allen,  the  minister  of  Cape  Elizabeth,  in  the  mid- 
dle of  the  last  century.  Mr.  Oilman's  preparatory  studies 
were  pursued  at  Exeter  Academy,  and  he  graduated  at 
Dartmouth  College  in  1791,  a  classmate  of  Chief  Justice 
Dudley  Chase  of  Vermont,  and  of  Reuben  Kidder  and 
Nathaniel  Perley,  his  cotemporary  lawyers  in  Kennebec 
county.  He  studied  law  with  Judge  Oliver  Peabody  at  Exe- 
ter, and  commenced  the  practice  at  Gardiner,  Maine,  in 
1796.  In  1798,  having  just  married  Pamela  Augusta,  a 
daughter  of  Gen.  Henry  Dearborn,  a  woman  of  rare  men- 
tal and  personal  attractions,  he  moved  to  Hallowell.  This 
lovely  woman  died  in  October,  1799,  leaving  a  daughter  four 
months  old,  now  the  widow  of  the  late  Major  Dearborn  of 
the  United  States  Army.  This  afflicting  event  so  dispirited 
him  that  he  fled  from  the  dear  familiar  scenes  of  his  wedded 
days  to  the  solitude  of  the  wilderness.  He  spent  one  year 
at  Brewer,  and  in  1801  took  up  his  residence  in  Bangor, 
where  he  remained  the  rest  of  his  life,  devoting  himself 
assiduously  to  the  duties  of  his  profession.  He  particularly 
excelled  in  and  preferred  the  quiet  pursuits  of-  the  office, 
to  the  bustling  scenes  of  the  court  room.  His  habits  were 
modest  and  unassuming ;  he  wrote  a  fine  and  neat  hand, 
and  was  extremely  accurate  in  conveyancing  and  fhc  draft- 
ing of  legal  instruments.  He  was  a  sound  and  discriminat- 
ing lawyer,  of  unquestioned  integrity,  and  of  easy,  graceful 
manners.  The  Hon.  Mr.  McGaw,  wlio  is  still  hai)j)ily  living, 
was  the  cotemporary  of  Mr.  (Oilman,  in  Bangor,  more  than 
forty  years.     He  says  of  him,  that  ''  he  maintained  through 


ALLEN  OILMAN:  HANCOCK  COUNTY:  BANGOR.     211 

life  an  elevated  standing  as  a  lawyer ;  he  possessed  clear  and 
rapid  perceptions  in  cases  of  involved  difficulties,  both  of 
law  and  fact,  and  had  not  only  the  confidence  of  his  clients, 
but  also  of  his  fellow-citizens."  At  the  time  these  gentle- 
men established  themselves  in  Bangor,  the  whole  of  this 
region,  extending  from  the  sea  to  the  Canada  line,  was 
embraced  in  the  county  of  Hancock,  but  the  inhabitants  did 
not  extend  above  Oldtown.  The  courts  were  held  in  Cas- 
tine  until  1814,  when  Bangor  was  made  a  half  shire  town. 
The  lawyers  consequently  went  down  to  Castine  to  attend 
court,  and  sometimes  to  Machias  in  the  county  of  Washing- 
ton, until  the  incorporation  of  Penobscot  County,  in  1816. 
There  assembled  at  the  sessions,  especially  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  which  was  held  but  once  a  year,  the  choice  spirits  who 
had  already  pitched  their  tents  in  that  far  country, — Abbott 
of  Castine,  Herbert  and  Deane  of  Ellsworth,  "Wilson  and  Cros- 
by of  Belfast,  and  Button,  Oilman,  McGaw,  and  Williamson  of 
Bangor.  After  the  incorporation  of  Penobscot,  Mr.  Gilman 
seldom  extended  his  professional  visits  beyond  his  own 
county.  He  was  appointed  the  first  Register  of  Probate  in 
the  new  county,  and  held  the  office  until  the  organization  of 
the  government  of  Maine,  in  1820. 

In  1834,  Bangor  was  incorporated  as  a  city,  on  which  occa- 
sion his  fellow-citizens  selected  Mr.  Gilman  as  the  first 
Mayor,  and  he  was  re-elected  the  next  year.  His  admin- 
istration was  successful,  and  he  did  much  to  promote  the 
welfare  and  beauty  of  the  city.  After  this  brief  interrup- 
tion, he  continued  to  pursue  his  professional  labors,  to  the 
period  of  his  last  sickness,  which  terminated  his  life  April 
7, 1846,  in  the  seventy-third  year  of  his  age. 

The  bar  of  Penobscot  County  took  honorable  notice  of  the 
death  of  their  deceased  brother,  who  was  the  eldest  member 
of  that  bar.  Tlicy  spoke  of  liim  as  a  man  "  known  for  the 
quickness  of  his  perceptions,  for  his  legal  acumen  and  iiis 


212  ALLEN    OILMAN  :    JOHN    HATHAWAY. 

general  acquaintance  with  legal  principles.  Highly  respect- 
able in  all  the  departments  of  practice,  it  is  not  perhaps  too 
much  to  say  that  he  was  not  excelled  as  a  skillful,  accurate, 
and  accomplished  conveyancer." 

Mr.  Oilman  was  small  in  stature,  and  rather  frail  in  health ; 
but  by  care  and  regular  habits,  his  life  was  prolonged  to  a 
good  old  age.  In  October,  1806,  he  entered  into  a  second 
marriage  with  a  daughter  of  Col.  John  Brewer,  by  whom  he 
had  five  sons  and  two  daughters.  His  eldest  son,  Charles, 
born  in  1807,  was  educated  at  Brown  University,  and 
became  a  prominent  lawyer,  and  the  reporter  of  legal  decis- 
ions in  Illinois,  where  he  died  in  1849.  He  was  editor  of 
the  "  Western  Legal  Observer,"  published  at  Quincy,  Illi- 
nois, January,  1849.  One  of  the  daughters  married  Leon- 
ard Jones,  the  other  died  unmarried. 

JOHN     HATHAWAY.      179  6  —  1799. 

The  same  year,  1796,  that  Oliver  Leonard  established  him- 
self in  that  part  of  the  town  of  Orrington  which  is  now 
Brewer,  and  Thomas  S.  Sparhawk  in  Bucksport,  both  on  the 
east  side  of  tlie  Penobscot  river,  as  the  first  lawyers  in  those 
towns,  John  Hathaway  came  from  the  Old  Colony  and  set- 
tled in  the  village  of  Camden,  on  the  west  side  of  Penobscot 
Bay,  as  the  first  lawyer  in  that  region  of  country.  The 
town  was  then  part  of  the  county  of  Lincoln,  and  contained 
a  population  of  about  six  hundred.  At  the  present  time,  it 
has  about  four  thousand  and  six  hundred. 

Mr.  Hathaway  was  the  son  of  Abraham  Hathaway,  of 
Raynham,  Massachusetts,  and  was  born  in  Wrcntham  in 
1773.  He  graduated  at  Brown  University  in  1793,  a  class- 
mate of  John  Merrill,  who  settled  in  Wiscasset.  After  leav- 
ing college,  he  took  a  school  in  Hanover,  Massachusetts,  and 
commenced  the  study  of  law  at  the  same  time  with  Bcnja- 


JOHN    HATHAWAY.  213 

jamin  Whitman  of  that  place,  a  noted  lawyer  in  the  Old 
Colony,  and  afterwards  in  Boston.  On  completing  his  stud- 
ies and  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  was  persuaded  by  some 
friends  who  had  settled  in  Camden  to  establish  himself  in 
that  town,  which  he  concluded  to  do,  and  opened  the  first 
law  office  there  in  1T9G.  His  early  success  encouraged  him : 
there  was  no  lawyer  within  hailing  distance  :  the  late  Judge 
Wilde  at  Waldoboro'  was  the  nearest,  and  Manasseh  Smith 
and  Silas  Lee  at  Wiscasset,  and  Mr.  llasey  at  Topsham,  were 
then  all  the  lawyers  in  what  constituted  the  county  of  Lin- 
coln, after  Kennebec  was  taken  off.  He  built  an  office  ;  he 
got  married  ;  became  postmaster  of  the  village  ;  and  by  his 
ability  and  attention  to  business,  he  acquired  the  confidence 
of  the  absentee  proprietors  of  that  and  adjacent  towns  ujider 
the  Waldo  Patent,  for  whom  he  was  agent  and  attorney. 
His  business  extended,  and  he  was  warranted  in  the  assur- 
ance which  his  prospects  unfolded,  of  reputation,  and  the 
pecuniary  rewards  of  a  successful  practice. 

But  in  the  midst  of  these  bright  promises,  he  was  sud- 
denly stricken  with  typhus  fever,  which  terminated  his  life 
at  the  early  age  of  twenty-six,  October  6, 1799.  Mr.  Locke, 
in  his  History  of  Camden,  speaks  of  his  having  a  large  prac- 
tice in  the  courts,  and  says,  "  By  doing  business  in  the 
courts  for  the  '  Twenty  Associates '  (proprietors  of  that 
and  other  towns),  he  became  quite  extensively  known,  and 
rapidly  obtained  the  confidence  and  esteem  of  his  senior 
brethren  of  the  bar.  As  a  pleader,  he  was  forcible  in  argu- 
ment and  eloquent  in  style,  and  almost  invariably  engaged 
the  attention  of  his  auditors  to  the  close  of  his  plea." 

In  September,  1797,  he  married  Miss  Dcborali  Cushing, 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  Josepli  Cushing  of  Hanover,  Judge 
of  Probate  for  Plymouth  County,  born  in  1771.  By  her  he 
had  one  son,  who  was  lost  at  sea  when  twenty-three  years 
old.     She  was  liviny;  in  18")9. 


214  ISAAC  STORY. 

ISAAC     STORY.      1797  —  1803. 

Isaac  Story  was  another  early  member  of  the  Hancock 
bar,  a  brilliant  meteor  that  flashed  across  it  and  expired. 
Mr.  Story  was  the  second  son  of  tlie  Rev.  Isaac  Story,  and 
grandson  of  the  Rev.  Simon  Bradstreet,  both  of  Marblehead. 
The  latter  was  descended  from  the  distinguished  Governor 
of  Massachusetts  of  the  same  name.  He  was  born  in  Mar- 
blehead, 1774,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1792,  and 
after  pursuing  his  regular  course  of  study,  established  him- 
self in  Castine,  in  1797  or  '98.  Here  for  a  while  he  con- 
nected with  his  professional  duties  that  of  editor  of  the  "  Cas- 
tine Journal,"  a  weekly  paper.  He  was  more  fond  of  liter- 
ature than  the  law,  and  as  the  region  of  the  Penobscot  was 
not  inspiring  and  encouraging  in  this  more  graceful  pursuit, 
any  more  than  the  law,  he  moved  back  to  Massachusetts, 
and  opened  an  office  in  Rutland,  Worcester  County.  But 
he  did  not  long  survive :  the  working  of  his  fervid  genius 
overtaxed  his  frail  constitution,  and  he  died  in  July,  1803, 
at  the  early  age  of  twenty-nine.  It  was  said  of  him  at  the 
time  of  his  death,  that  no  one  of  his  age  in  Massachusetts 
had  written  more  for  the  periodical  press  of  his  time  than 
he.  Among  his  publications  were  essays  from  "  The  Desk 
of  Beri  Hesdin,"  in  the  style  of  the  lay  preacher,  which 
appeared  in  the  Farmer's  Museum.  He  published  a  volume 
in  a  series  of  letters,  over  the  signature  of  "  The  Traveler," 
parts  of  which  were  printed  in  the  Columbian  Centinel.  He 
was  equally  happy  in  poetry  as  in  prose :  a  volume  from  his 
pen  was  published  under  the  title  of  "  The  Parnassian  Shop, 
by  Peter  Quince,"  in  imitation  of  Peter  Pindar,  of  wliose 
wit  and  style  he  was  an  admirer.  He  received  warm  com- 
mendations from  Joseph  Dennie  of  the  "  Port  Folio,"  and 
other  discriminating  judges  of  literary  merit.  He  died  at 
his  father's  house  in  Marblehead,  and  a  notice  of  liis  death 


ISAAC   STORY  :    EDWARD   P.  HAYMAN.  215 

appeared  soon  after  in  the  Salem  Register,  which  thus  speaks 
of  him :  "  A  gentleman  well  known  by  numerous  produc- 
tions in  polite  literature.  In  his  manners  bland,  social,  and 
affectionate  ;  in  his  disposition  sportive  and  convivial ;  in  his 
morals  pure,  generous,  and  unaffected.  Wit  and  humor 
were  provinces  in  which  he  sought  peculiar  favor,  though  he 
not  unfrequently  mingled  in  his  poetic  effusions  the  gravity 
of  sententiousness  with  the  lighter  graces."  His  kinsman, 
the  late  Judge  Story,  wrote  a  brief  monody  on  his  death, 
from  which  we  make  the  following  extract : — 

"  Spirit  of  him,  wliose  chastened  soul 

Could  touch  each  chord  of  pure  desire, 
Whence,  flown  beyond  the  mind's  control, 

Thy  brilliant  thought,  thy  Druid  fire  1 
Lost  in  thy  manhood's  chariest  bloom. 

O'er  thee  shall  pity  meekly  mourn, 
And  many  a  sylph,  who  haunts  the  gloom, 

AVith  twilight  dews  bespread  thine  urn." 

EDWARD     PAYNE     HAYMAN.      179G— 1831. 

From  this  bright  genius  of  the  profession,  I  turn  to  an 
absolute  matter-of-fact  man,  as  dry  and  exact  in  details  as 
the  other  was  fresh,  varied,  and  broad  in  the  scope  of  his 
character.  Edward  Payne  Hayman,  better  known  as  the 
circuit  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  than  in  any  other  ca- 
pacity, was  born  in  Boston,  February  22,  1771,  the  second 
son  of  Capt.  William  Ilayman.  After  pursuing  his  prelim- 
inary education  in  his  native  town,  he  entered  the  office  of 
Charles  Cashing,  the  time-honored  clerk  of  the  courts  in 
Boston,  and  who  had  l)ccn  the  sheritf  of  Lincoln  County 
from  its  organization  to  his  singular  seizure  by  the  tories, 
and  made  prisoner  during  the  Revolution.  This  service 
prepared  Mr.  Ilayman  for  the  duties  of  a  similar  office,  to 


216  EDWARD   P.    HAYMAN. 

■which  he  was  afterwards  appointed.  "When  he  became  of 
age,  he  moved  to  South  Berwick,  and  entered  the  ollice  of 
Dudley  Hubbard,  where  he  continued  an  attentive  and  close 
student  for  five  years,  the  period  then  required  for  admis- 
sion to  tlie  bar,  of  those  who  had  not  received  a  collegiate 
education.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  York,  Novem- 
ber term,  ITOG  ;  in  1800  he  was  elected  clerk  of  the  Senate 
of  Massachusetts ;  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  an 
assistant  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court,  and  the  next  year  one 
of  the  circuit  clerks — the  other  and  chief  was  the  venerable 
John  Tucker,  who,  with  Charles  Cushing,  the  brother  of 
Judge  William,  were,  time  out  of  mind,  clerks  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  He  held  this  office,  which  embraced  also  the  county 
of  Essex  until  the  organization  of  the  new  government  in 
Maine  in  1820,  most  promptly  and  faithfully,  discharging 
its  responsible  duties.  He  returned  to  the  profession  on 
leaving  the  office,  but  was  again  summoned  from  it  in  1823, 
to  assume  the  duties  of  Cashier  of  the  South  Berwick  Bank, 
which  had  been  incorporated  that  year,  and  held  the  post  to 
the  entire  satisfaction  of  the  stockholders  and  the  public,  to 
the  time  of  his  death,  December  25,  1831. 

Mr.  Hayman  was  a  well-read  lawyer,  exact  in  knowledge 
of  the  forms  of  practice,  and  of  the  utmost  precision  in  his 
habits  of  business,  as  well  as  in  his  manners.  A  person  who 
was  well  acquainted  with  him  has  furnished  me  with  the  fol- 
lowing description  of  some  of  his  peculiarities.  He  says, 
"  He  was  exceedingly  methodical  and  particular  rin  every- 
thing that  he  said  or  did  ;  he  was  strictly  honest  and  correct 
in  all  his  moral  deportment.  He  never  became  very  distin- 
guished in  his  profession,  but  from  his  constant  association 
with  the  court,  he  was  a  better  lawyer  than  advocate.  I  do 
not  know  that  he  ever  had  an  enemy.  He  lived  about  half 
*  a  mile  from  the  bank,  and  knew  exactly  how  many  minutes 
and  seconds  it  would  take  him  to  walk  from  one  to  the  other  ; 


EDWARD   P.  HAYMAN  :    SAMUEL   P.  GLIDDEN.  217 

and  he  always  left  his  house  at  the  same  moment  of  time, 
and  probably  fo'r  years  he  did  not  vary  two  minutes  from  his 
exact  time  of  departure  from  his  house,  and  his  arrival  at 
the  bank."  In  1809,  he  married  Sarah,  a  daughter  of  the 
Rev.  John  Tompson,  a  Congregational 'clergyman  of  South 
Berwick,  by  wliom  he  had  several  chilcjren  who  survived 
him  ;  viz.,  Sarah,  born  in  1810  ;  Edward,  born  in  1812  ;  and 
Charles  Cushin^,  born  April  15, 1815,  died  July  12, 1844. 

A.11  the  lawyers  who  practiced  in  the  Supreme  Court  of 
the  State  prior  to  the  separation  from  Massachusetts,  cannot 
fail  to  remember  his  tall,  prim  figure,  the  clear  tones  of  his 
voice,  and  the  prompt  and  ready  manner  in  which  the  cir- 
cuit clerk  discharged  the  duties  of  his  office,  and  the  assi- 
duity and  attention  which  he  gave  to  all  the  business  devolv- 
ing upon  him.  He  was  a  model  in  that  department  of  life, 
and  in  fidelity  to  all  his  trusts. 

SAMUEL     p.     GLIDDEN.      1797  —  1818. 

Samuel  P.  Glidden  was  the  first  lawyer  who  established 
himself  in  the  beautiful  town  of  Readfield  in  Kennebec 
County.  He  was  born  in  17G1,  in  Unity,  New  Hampshire, 
and  came  to  Readfield  in  1797,  at  the  age  of  thirty-six.  He 
does  not  appear  to  have  been  a  graduate  of  any  college,  but 
received  his  law  training  in  the  office  of  Mr.  West,  of  Charles- 
town,  New  Hampshire.  He  was  the  son  of  Jonathan  Glid- 
den, a  native  of  Deerfield,  who  had  four  sons  and  four 
daughters  :  one  of  the  daughters  was  the  mother  of  Jona- 
athan  G,  Hunton,  Governor  of  Maine  in  I80O.  Readfield 
was  taken  from  the  northerly  part  of  Winthrop,  and  incor- 
porated in  1791.  In  1797,  wheji  ^fr.  Gliddon  commenced 
practice  there,  it  contained  a  population  less  than  nine  hun- 
dred.    It  now  has  three  pleasant  villages,  and  a  population 

15 


218  SAMUEL   P.    GLIDDEN  :    JONATHAN   G.  HUNTON. 

of  one  thousand  five  hundred,  having  decreased,  according 
to  the  census  tables,  over  four  hundred  since  1850. 

At  the  time  Mr.  Ghdden  opened  his  office,  there  was  no 
lawyer  between  Topsliam,  where  Mr.  Hasey  was  established, 
on  one  side,  and  Hallowell  and  Waterville  on  the  other. 
His  opportunities  for  professional  business  were  therefore 
good,  and  for  a  time  he  occupied  a  respectable  position,  and 
might  have  rendered  himself,  as  my  informant  says,  much 
more  useful  to  himself  and  the  community  but  for  the  in- 
dulgence, during  the  latter  portion  of  his  life,  in  intoxicat- 
ing drinks.  He  died  December  14, 1818,  in  the  fifty-seventh 
year  of  his  age.  An  aged  member  of  the  bar  of  Kennebec 
County,  now  living,  says,  "  I  recollect  seeing  Samuel  P. 
Glidden  at  the  bar  ;  he  was  not  a  man  of  much  note.  He 
seemed  to  be  a  very  quiet  man,  without  much  talent  or  pre- 
tension." 

During  the  practice  of  Mr.  Glidden  at  Readfield,  Ex-Gov- 
ernor Jonathan  G.  Hunton,  then  a  young  man,  and  nephew 
of  Mr.  Glidden,  studied  law  with  him,  was  his  successor  in 
business  there,  and  married  his  widow  for  his  second  wife,  by 
whom  he  had  one  child,  who  died  at  the  age  of  seven  years. 
Mr.  Hunton  moved  to  Dixmont  a  few  years  before  his  death, 
which  occurred  in  1851,  at  the  age  of  seventy.  He  had 
been  a  member  of  the  Executive  Council,  and  was  Governor 
in  1830,  successor  to  Enoch  Lincoln.  This  lady  who  became 
his  second  wife  was  Miss  Polly  Mitchell.  She  was  married 
to  Mr.  Glidden  July  12, 1799,  and  had  by  him  one  child,  who 
died  an  infant.  Mr.  Glidden  had  the  reputation  of  being  a 
kind  and  affectionate  friend  and  neighbor,  and  was  univer- 
sally beloved  by  his  acquaintances,  and,  but  for  his  excesses, 
might  have  left  an  honored  name. 

In  my  investigations  through  the  antiquities  of  the  pro- 
fession, I  have  been  struck  and  saddened  by  the  lamentable 
destruction  of  vigorous  talent,  noble  aspirations,  and  bril. 


INTEMPERANCE   OF  LAWYERS  :     DANIEL   CAMPBELL.      219 

liant  prospects,  by  the  baneful  use  of  intoxicating  liquors 
by  professional  men.  The  injurious  usages  of  society,  which 
universally  prevailed  on  this  subject,  and  the  genial,  social 
character  of  many  mcmljers  of  the  profession,  seemed  to 
have  led  them,  beyond  other  classes,  into  the  fatal  snares  of 
dissipation  and  ruin.  And  notwitlistanding  the  earnest 
efforts  that  are  now  making  to  arrest  the  progress  of  this 
scourge  of  life  and  character,  we  fear  that  many  young  men, 
who  might  become  the  ornaments  of  the  profession,  and  the 
*'  gladsome  lights  of  jurisprudence,"  are  sinking  gradually 
into  dishonored  graves. 

Daniel  Campbell,  a  graduate  of  Dartmoutli  in  the  class  of 
1801,  seated  himself  by  the  side  of  Mr.  Glidden  in  1808, 
and  continued  to  practice  there  until  1817  or  '18,  when  he 
moved  to  Winthrop.  He  was  a  member  of  the  convention 
which  formed  the  constitution  of  Maine.  He  disappeared 
from  the  bar  in  1824,  and  entered  tlie  ministry,  and  was  set- 
tled the  first  minister  of  the  Second  Congregational  Society 
in  Kennebunk,  December  5,1827. 

JEREMIAH     BAILEY.      1798  —  185  3. 

Jeremiah  Bailey  was  the  son  of  Ephraim  Bailey  and 
Mary  Briggs,  and  was  born  at  Little  Compton,  Rhode  Island, 
May  1,  1773.  lie  was  educated  at  Brown  University,  from 
which  he  took  his  degree  in  1794,  and  immediately  came  to 
Wiscasset  and  entered  the  office  of  Silas  Lee.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1798,  and  commenced  practice  in  Wis- 
casset, which  was  ever  after  the  place  of  his  abode.  There 
were  then  in  that  village  two  other  lawyers, —  Mr.  Lee  and 
Manasseh  Smith,  and  sixteen  in  the  whole  county  which 
embraced  all  the  country  between  the  Kennebec  and  Penob- 
scot rivers  from  the  sea  to  tlie  Canada  line.     The  population 


220  JEREMIAH    I5AILEY. 

of  Wiscasset  was  then  about  one  thousand  seven  hundred, 
and  of  the  whole  county  about  eighteen  thousand. 

Mr.  Bailey  soon  acquired  a  high  reputation  for  his  dili- 
gence and  fidelity  in  business,  and  his  fine  social  qualities, 
in  which  he  was  rarely  excelled.  In  1808,  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  electors  of  President  and  Vice  President.  His 
colleagues  in  the  college,  from  Maine,  were  Andrew  P.  Fer- 
nald  of  Kittery,  Samuel  Freeman  of  Portland,  and  Judge 
Wilde  of  Hallowell.  It  is  not  necessary  to  say,  from  the 
school  of  politics  which  they  represented,  that  they  did  not 
vote  for  Mr.  Madison,  the  successful  candidate,  but  for  Charles 
Cotesworth  Pinckney,  who  received  but  forty-seven  votes,  the 
whole  Federal  strength  which  could  then  be  rallied.  In 
1810,  he  was  elected  a  representative  of  Wiscasset  to  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  and  was  returned  the  three  following  years,  when 
in  1816  he  was  appointed  Judge  of  Probate  as  successor  to 
Silas  Lee,  who  died  that  year.  Tliis  office  he  held  until 
1834,  discharging  its  duties  with  great  fidelity,  kindness,  and 
urbanity.  From  this  post  of  quiet,  unobtrusive  duty,  he 
was  transferred  to  a  seat  in  Congress  as  the  representative 
of  Lincoln  District,  which  he  held  for  one  term.  The  polit- 
ical character  of  the  District  becoming  democratic,  he  was 
succeeded  by  Jonathan  Cilley,  who  fell  a  martyr  in  1838  to 
the  "•  Code  of  honor,"  falsely  so  called.  On  leaving  Con- 
gress, he  returned  to  his  profession,  which  he  continued  to 
pursue  until  his  appointment  by  President  Taylor  as  col- 
lector of  the  customs  in  Wiscasset,  in  184U,  which  place  he 
held  through  that  Presidential  term,  and  was  removed  for 
political  considerations,  by  President  Pierce,  just  previous 
to  his  death,  in  July,  1853,  at  the  age  of  eighty.  He  left, 
as  a  cotemporary  said  of  him,  "  an  unsullied  reputation, 
and  marked  for  the  utmost  purity  in  the  discharge  of  the 
duties  of  all  the  various  offices  which  he  was  called  on  to 
fill."   The  same  writer  (F.  Allen)  observes,  "  He  was  much 


JEREMIAH   BAILEY  :    \\1SCASSET.  221 

distinguished  for  his  hospitality,  and  beloved  for  his  kind- 
ness by  all  his  numerous  friends  where  he  lived." 

In  1813  he  was  appointed,  with  Benjamin  Orr,  a  commis- 
sioner of  Massachusetts,  to  close  up  the  difficulties  between 
the  settlers  and  proprietors  of  lands  in  Lincoln,  Kennebec, 
and  Waldo  Counties,  whose  complaints  and  hardships  had 
been  quieted  and  adjusted  by  arbitration,  under  authority  of 
the  State.  The  conflicting  claims  were  satisfied  by  convey- 
ances of  other  tracts  belonging  to  the  commonwealth,  by 
which  the  vexed  and  alarming  controversies  and  agitations, 
which  had  long  existed,  were  happily  compromised. 

He  was  several  years  a  member  of  the  Board  of  Overseers 
of  Bowdoin  College,  over  which  he  presided  a  portion  of  the 
time  ;  and  in  1830  he  was  elected  one  of  the  Trustees  of  the 
College,  an  office  which  he  continued  to  hold  until  his  res- 
ignation, in  1838. 

Judge  Bailey  was  twice  married.  His  first  wife  was  Mary 
Seavey  of  Wiscasset,  who  died  of  consumption  in  a  few  years 
after  marriage,  leaving  no  children.  In  1812,  June  17th, 
he  married  Cbarlotte  Welch,  daughter  of  Dr.  Thomas  W^elch 
of  Boston.  By  her  he  had  six  children;  viz.,  Charlotte, 
Edward,  Harriet,  John  Q.,  George,  and  Ann.  Charlotte  and 
John  Q.  are  not  living. 

I  am  indebted  to  my  friend,  John  H.  Shcppard  of  Boston, 
who  was  Register  of  Probate  several  years  in  the  time  of 
Judge  Bailey,  and  had  a  constant  friendly  intimacy  with 
him,  for  the  following  interesting  remarks  : 

He  was  fortunate  in  the  choice  of  his  residence.  Wiscas- 
set is  one  of  the  finest  seaports  on  the  shores  of  New  Eng- 
land. It  was  once  the  mart  of  busy  commerce,  when  the 
harbor  was  filled  with  ships  from  the  West  Indies  and  Liv- 
erpool. Ilcr  streets  echoed  with  the  jovial  voices  of  mar- 
iners, and  bur  merchants  were  known  far  and  wide,  among 
whom  the  late  Hon.  Abiel  Wood  was  one  of  the  greatest 


222  jp:hemiah  bailey:  wiscasset. 

ship-owners  in  tlie  United  States.  This  town  suffered  much 
from  the  Embargo,  and  the  subsequent  war  of  1812  ;  ceased 
to  be  the  miniature  of  a  great  city ;  and  at  last  became  a 
nursery  and  school  of  many  sons  and  daughters  who  have 
risen  to  wealth  and  honor  in  more  prosperous  places.  But 
her  natural  scenery  neither  Embargo  nor  War  has  touched  : 
it  is  beautiful  as  ever. 

Wiscasset  lies  on  the  eastern  side  of  a  bay  formed,  as  the 
late  Attorney  General  Foote  used  to  say,  by  the  "  deep 
waters  of  the  Sheepscot"  —  a  recess  about  fifteen  miles  from 
the  sea.  For  fifty  years  this  harbor  has  not  been  frozen 
over,  but  in  two  or  three  instances,  and  then  only  while  the 
cold  was  below  zero  ;  and  so  eligible  is  the  location  that  the 
Commissioner  of  the  United  States  Coast  Survey  recom- 
mended it  at  Washington  for  a  Navy  Yard. 

Here  Judge  Bailey  lived  to  a  good  old  age.  His  mansion, 
which  he  built  for  his  own  convenience,  was  conspicuous 
among  the  handsome  houses  which  faced  the  green  common, 
and  stood  on  a  line  with  the  court-house  and  church.  It 
was  shaded  by  trees  and  shrubbery  of  his  own  planting,  and 
near  it  was  a  garden  he  cultivated.  Indeed,  this  dwelling 
in  the  midst  of  scenery  so  attractive  will  be  long  remem- 
bered for  those  agreeable  parties  and  evening  circles  where 
age  forgot  its  cares,  and  youth  looked  forward  to  pleasure. 
It  was  there  I  first  saw  and  was  introduced  to  Daniel  Web- 
ster, Judge  Story,  Jeremiah  Mason,  and  other  distinguished 
men ;  for  at  this  hospitable  mansion  the  members  of  the 
courts  held  in  that  shire  town,  and  strangers  of  distinction, 
were  never  forgotten.  .  It  seemed  to  be  the  delight  of  the 
Judge  and  Mrs.  Bailey,  who  was  a  very  interesting  woman, 
to  make  others  happy,  and  cast  a  sunshine  of  cheerfulness 
around  them. 

Judge  Bailey  was  a  sound  lawyer,  well-instructed  in  prec- 
edents and  pleadings,  and  a  very  safe,  peace-making  coun- 


JEREMIAH   BAILEY.  223 

sellor ;  and  in  court  a  ready,  sensible,  but  not  an  eloquent 
speaker.  He  never  "mounted  the  high  horse,"  —  to  quote 
a  saying  of  his  upon  a  very  aspiring  young  advocate.  His 
docket  was  never  large,  but  always  respectable,  and  he 
seemed  contented  with  a  moderate  share  of  business.  He 
had  many  rich  Boston  clients,  and  their  patronage  was  lucra- 
tive. As  a  Judge  of  Probate  he  was  courteous,  impartial, 
and  popular,  and  if  in  any  difficult  case  a  doubt  arose,  his 
benevolence  leaned  on  the  side  of  the  widow  and  orphan ; 
while  he  was  so  cautious  and  reflective  in  making  up  his 
decrees,  that  few  appeals,  and  still  fewer  reverses  of  his 
opinions,  ever  took  place  in  the  Supreme  Court  of  Probate. 
The  office  of  Judge  of  Probate  is  not  appreciated  by  the 
public.  It  should  always  be  filled  by  some  learned,  upright 
lawyer ;  for  though  the  duties  are  executed  in  a  noiseless 
manner,  and  without  jury  or  crier,  yet  it  has  been  estimated 
that  in  thirty  years  nearly  all  the  estates  in  a  county  come 
under  the  decree  of  the  Probate  Judiciary. 

His  religion  was  rather  in  an  exemplary  course  of  life 
than  in  profession.  He  was  not  a  member  of  the  church, 
but  was  habitually  a  church-going  man,  morning  and  after- 
noon of  the  Sabbath.  Reticence  on  creeds  and  doctrines 
was  his  favorite  maxim,  and  whatever  might  have  been  his 
views  on  those  great  questions  that  agitate  society,  and  some- 
times set  their  proselytes  by  the  ears,  he  kept  them  in  his 
own  breast,  and  avoided  all  remarks  on  this  subject.  When- 
ever he  did  speak  of  things  sacred,  it  was  always  with  rev- 
erence. 

Tlie  peculiar  trait  of  his  character  was  a  kindly  and  hon- 
est heart.  His  natural  abilities  were  good,  but  not  great ; 
but  he  was  blessed  with  prudence  and  "  a  right  judgment  in 
all  things ;  "  self-denying  and  economical  in  his  affairs  ;  neat 
and  methodical  in  his  personal  habits ;  he  took  delight  in 
doing  in  the  best  manner  whatever  he  did,  even  to  writing 


224  JEREMIAH   BAILEY. 

the  letters  of  his  correspondence  in  a  plain,  round  hand. 
He  had  by  nature  a  very  cheerful  temperament,  looking 
upon  the  bright  side  of  every  event,  as  though  he  could 
always  see  a  piece  of  blue  sky  through  the  mists  of  our  lower 
atmosphere.  And  even  in  his  last  days,  when  he  was  draw- 
ing near  to  the  shadow  of  the  dark  mountains,  he  was  so 
calm  and  free  from  all  complaint  and  murmuring  that  it 
seemed  as  if  his  spirit  saw  beyond  them  the  dawning  of  the 
life  to  come. 

Take  him  for  all  in  all,  I  have  seldom  seen  a  happier  man. 
In  a  word,  he  was  a  perfect  gentleman,  "  totus  et  rotundus." 
"When  I  think  of  past  times,  and  call  up  his  image  to  my 
recollection,  I  feel  that  memory  is  like  an  ideal  album  of 
photographs.  There  on  one  of  the  pages  in  the  book  of 
reminiscence  I  see  a  spare  form,  not  very  tall,  clothed  in 
black,  his  habitual  costume,  sitting  in  a  summer's  morning 
by  an  open  window  in  his  office,  shaded  by  an  elm  which  he 
planted,  a  mere  sapling,  near  the  door,  more  than  sixty 
years  ago,  and  now  Avith  huge  bole  and  broad  branches  bend- 
ing over  the  street ;  and  at  this  window  I  behold  a  face  old- 
er in  appearance  than  its  years,' — with  black  eyes,  high  fore- 
head, bald  front,  and  scattered  gray  hairs,  bearing  a  good 
expression  and  most  cordial  smile  ;  and  I  hear  a  voice  some- 
what musical  in  its  very  pleasant  and  cheerful  tones,  and 
ever  ready,  as  the  Scotch  would  say,  with  a  "  ceevil  word 
for  ilka  bodie."  This  was  Judge  Bailey  in  the  meridian  of 
life. 


CHAPTER    XIV. 


SAMUEL   THATCHER — PETER  0.  ALDEN  —  CYRUS   KING  —  JOSIAH 
STEBBINS  —  BENJAMIN  WHITWELL  —  JOHN  MERRILL  —  JAMES 
D.  HOPKINS  —  JUDAH  DANA  —  NICHOLAS  EMERY  —  THOM- 
AS BOWMAN — NATHAN  BRIDGE — WILLIAM  WIDGERY. 

SAMUEL     THATCHER.      179  6  —  1799. 

Samuel  Thatcher,  at  the  thne  I  write  ( 1862  ),  is  the  old- 
est living  lawyer  in  our  State,  and  the  oldest  in  his  entrance 
on  the  practice.  He  was  born  in  Cambridge,  July  1,  1776. 
Mr.  Thatcher  was  not  of  the  celebrated  Anthony  and  Peter 
Thacher  families,  who  have  scattered  broadcast  over  the 
land  so  |many  eminent  men  in  all  the  professions  of  life. 
He  was  descended  from  Samuel  Thatcher  of  Watertown, 
Massachusetts,  who  was  admitted  a  freeman,  May  18, 1642, 
and  was  from  the  English  "  Old  Sarum  "  family,  of  which  the 
Thachers  above  named  are  another  branch.  The  ancestor  was 
deacon  of  the  church  there,  often  a  sclectniau  and  represent- 
ative to  the  General  Court  to  the  time  of  liis  death  in  1()6'J. 
His  son  Samuel,  born  1618,  died  October  21,  1726,  having 
had  ten  children,  the  youngest  of  whom,  Ebenezer,  was  born 
in  1704.  Ebenezer  married  in  1732,  Susannah  Spring,  and 
they  were  the  parents  of  seven  children,  the  oldest  of  whom 
was  Samuel,  born  November  5,  1732,  who  married  Mary 


226  SAMUEL   THATCHER. 

Brown  of  Lexington,  Sept.  3, 1753.  These  were  the  parents 
of  the  subject  of  this  notice,  who  thus  appears  to  be  the  fifth 
in  descent  from  tlie  first  American  ancestor.  It  will  be  per- 
ceived that  this  family  insert  t  in  their  name,  and  are  tena- 
cious of  the  letter.  The  other  branch  omit  it,  although  I 
noticed  in  a  letter  of  Judge  George  Thachcr,  1790,  that  he 
then  retained  it,  but  afterwards  omitted  it. 

Mr.  Thatcher  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1793,  at 
the  age  of  seventeen.  He  is  now,  next  to  Mr.  Quincy  of 
the  class  of  1790,  the  eldest  surviving  graduate.  Among 
his  classmates  were  Judge  Jackson,  Francis  C.  Lowell,  and 
Dr.  John  Pierce  of  Brooklyn.  Mr.  Tiiatchcr,  determining 
to  qualify  himself  for  the  legal  profession,  entered  the  office 
of  Timothy  Bigelow,  then  living  in  Groton,  and  at  the  same 
time  had  charge  of  the  Academy  at  that  place.  He  remained 
one  year,  and  secured  a  friendship  with  that  distinguished 
gentleman  whicli  continued  through  his  life.  He  then 
transferred  his  residence  to  Concord,  and  becanje  a  student 
in  the  office  of  Jonathan  Fay,  with  whom  he  completed 
his  preparatory  studies,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in 
1798.  He  immediately  came  to  Maine,  and  opened  an 
office  in  New  Gloucester,  which  was  then  a  half  shire  town, 
the  Common  Pleas  holding  in  it  one  term  a  year.  William 
Widgery  was  then  an  acting  justice  there,  and  an  occasional 
practitioner,  altiiough  never  admitted  to  the  bar. 

Moses  Gill,  a  nephew  of  Lieut.  Governor  Gill,  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, had  practiced  in  New  Gloucester,  about  two  years 
before  Mr.  Thatcher  went  there.  He  was  educated  by  his 
uncle,  and  had  large  expectations  from  him,  was  a  graduate 
of  Harvard  College  in  the  class  of  1784,  and  the  heir  to  a  hand- 
some estate.  With  encouragements  sufficient  to  stimulate  the 
ambition  of  any  young  man,  he  yielded  to  the  blandislnnents 
of  pleasure,  and  after  a  residence  of  two  years,  he  returned 
to  Massachusetts,  and  became  irregular  in  his  habits.  He 
died  in  1832. 


SAMUEL  THATCHER:  THE  FEDERAL  PARTY.      227 

But,  notwithstanding  the  prospects  of  business  for  Mr. 
Thatclier  at  this  place,  were  favorable,  he   was  induced  to 
move  to  Warren  in  October  of  the  next  year,  where  an 
opening  was  made  by  the  removal  of  Judge  Wilde  to  Hal- 
lowell,  whose  situation  he  purchased,  and  succeeded  to  his 
practice.     Mr.  Thatcher,  in  his  new  residence,  by  his  pleas- 
ing address,  his  ability  as  a  lawyer,  and  his  eloquence  as  an 
advocate,  soon  took  a  commanding  position  at  the  bar,  and 
acquired  an  extensive   business.     He  obtained  a  reputation 
and  popularity  rarely  achieved  by  so  young  a  man.     He  had 
been  scarcely  two  years  in  the  town  when  he  was  elected  its 
representative  to  the  General  Court,  as  successor  to  Judge 
Wilde,  and  was  re-elected  the  next  year.     A  vacancy  occur- 
ring in  the  representation  to  Congress  from  Lincoln  District, 
by  the  appointment  of  Silas  Lee,  in  1800,  as  United  States 
Attorney  for  Maine,  Mr.  Thatcher  was  chosen  to  supply  it, 
and   was  re-elected  for  the  next  Congress  before  he  had 
attained  the  legal  age.     On  this  broader  field  he  advocated, 
with  great  vigor  and  vehemence,  the  principles  of  the  Fed- 
eral party,  which  had  then  sunk  into  a  hopeless  minority  in 
the   national  administration,  from  which  it  never  afterwards 
recovered.     Among  the  able  men  who  bravely  fought  the 
battles  of  opposition,  were  Dudley  Chase  and  Crittenden  of 
Vermont ;  Timothy  Pickering,  Manasseh  Cutler,  and  Josiali 
Quincy  of  Massachusetts  ;  Tillinghast  of  Rhode  Island  ;  Hill- 
house,  Tracy,  and  Talmadge  of  Connecticut ;  and  Drayton 
of  New  Jersey.     Mr.  Thatcher  was  with  the  most  zealous  of 
these  in  sustaining  the  Federal  doctrines.     But  the  influence 
and  patronage  of  office,  and  the  more  popular  principles  of 
Democracy,  extended  the  power   of   the   dominant   party 
through  the  country,  and  gave  to  it  a  supremacy   wliicli  it 
held  through  a  long  series  of  years.     Mr.  Thatcher's  Dis- 
trict was  not  exempted  from  the  infection,  and  he  failed  in 
the  election  of  1804.     But  his  town,  which  retained  its  large 


228  SAMUEL   THATCHER. 

Federal  majority  down  to  the  period  of  the  separation  from 
Massachusetts,  immediately  returned  him  to  the  Legislature, 
and  he  was  re-elected  the  eight  following  years,  witli  the 
exception  of  1811.  In  February,  1814,  he  was  appointed 
Sheriff  of  the  County,  and  held  the  office  until  1821,  when 
the  new  government  of  Maine  going  into  effect,  and  under 
different  political  aspects  from  those  of  Massachusetts,  his 
place  was  filled  by  a  friend  of  separation  and  of  the  adminis- 
tration. He  was  immediately  chosen  to  represent  his  town 
again  in  the  Legislature  until  1824,  wlien  he  left  political 
life.  He  took  an  active  part  in  the  debates  of  the  Legis- 
lature, and  his  long  experience  gave  him  influence  in  mould- 
ing the  laws,  and  putting  the  new  State  into  successful 
operation.  In  debate  he  was  ardent,  animated,  and  eloquent ; 
the  sharpness  of  his  wit  gave  keenness  and  effect  to  his  logic. 
In  1806,  he  delivered  a  eulogy  on  the  death  of  General 
Knox.  The  General  died  in  October  of  that  year,  aged  fif- 
ty-six. 

We  cannot  but  think  that  Mr.  Thatcher  committed  a  grave 
error  when  he  left  his  chosen  profession,  which  he  was  admir- 
ably qualified  to  adorn,  for  the  hackneyed  and  desultory  paths 
of  politics.  But  it  is  the  passion  of  young  men,  and  an 
increasing  and  dangerous  one  in  this  country,  where  more 
fall  by  the  way  than  attain  to  any  profitable  advancement. 
"  All  rising  to  great  place,"  says  Lord  Bacon,  "  is  by  a  wind- 
ing stair."  How  freely  and  constantly  are  now  used  the 
arts  of  the  demagogue  ;  and  when  the  object  is  attained 
which  is  so  earnestly  sought,  how  empty  and  unsatisfactory 
is  the  result !  —  while  the  same  earnestness  in  the  pur- 
suit of  an  honorable  calling  will  surely  lead  to  competency, 
respectability,  and  happiness.  Lord  Bacon  wisely  says, "  Men 
in  great  place  are  thrice  servants, — servants  of  the  sovereign 
or  State,  servants  of  fame,  and  servants  of  business  ;  so  as 
they  have  no  freedom,  neither  in  tiieir  persons,  nor  in  their 


SAMUEL   THATCHER  :    PETER  0.  ALDEN.  220 

actions,  nor  in  their  times.  It  is  a  strange  desire  to  seek 
power  and  to  lose  liberty." 

"We  do  not  think  that  Mr.  Thatcher  practiced  any  of  the 
arts  of  a  demagogue,  which  at  that  day  had  not  risen  into 
the  rank  of  a  power  in  the  commonwealth.  But  in  a  com- 
munity where  education  and  high  qualities  were  rare,  his 
services  were  demanded  by  public  exigencies  ;  and  he  was 
too  high-minded  a  man  to  stoop  to  the  ordinary  level  of 
office-seeking.  If  he  had  not  yielded  to  temptation  of  pub- 
lic life,  we  do  not  doubt  that  his  own  welfare  and  happiness 
would  have  been  greatly  promoted. 

Mr.  Thatcher  was  a  public-spirited  citizen  of  Warren,  and 
labored  to  advance  the  interest  and  prosperity  of  the  people  : 
he  was  active  in  getting  an  academy  established  in  that  town, 
which  was  incorporated  in  1808  ;  and,  with  Col.  Head,  who 
died  in  1861  at  the  age  of  ninety-six,  he  caused  a  principal 
avenue  of  the  place  to  be  bordered  by  elm  trees,  which  now 
constitute  a  beautiful  and  refreshing  adornment  to  the 
Tillage. 

Mr.  Thatcher  married,  in  1T99,  Sarah  Brown,  daughter 
of  Reuben  Brown  of  Concord,  Massachusetts,  by  whom  he 
had  five  children  ;  viz.,  Harriet  Howard  ;  Elizabeth,  who  died 
January  23, 1827  ;  Samuel  of  Bangor,  moved  to  Minnesota ; 
George  Augustus  of  Brewer,  both  married  ;  and  Benjamin 
Bussey,  Bowdoin  College,  1826,  who  established  himself  in 
the  practice  of  law  in  Boston,  and  had  become  quite  distin- 
guished as  a  writer,  when  he  was  cut  off  in  tlie  vigor  of  life 
in  1840,  at  the  age  of  thirty-one.  Mr.  Thatcher  moved  to 
Brewer  in  1833,  where  he  still  survives. 

PETER     OLIVER    ALDEN.      17  9  7  —  1843. 

Mr.  Alden  was  a  descendant  of  that  handsome  Jolin  Al- 
den,  who,  at  the  age  of  twenty-two,  came  over  to  the  new 


230  PETER    0.  ALDEN. 

world  in  the  Mayflower,  1G20,  and  was  the  same  who  became 
the  favored  messenger  of  Capt.  Miles  Standish  to  Miss  Pris- 
cilla  Mullins,  to  solicit  her  to  supply  the  place  of  his  first 
wife,  who  had  recently  deceased.  But  Priscilla,  who  was 
innocent  and  beautiful  as  a  Pilgrim  maiden  should  be,  pre- 
ferred, as  was  very  natural,  the  young  agent  to  the  aged 
principal.  Her  simple  reply  to  the  proposal  of  the  redoubt- 
able Captain,  after  listening  with  due  respect  and  modesty 
to  it,  was,  "  Prithee,  John,  why  do  you  not  speak  for  your- 
self? "^  The  hint  was  subsequently  improved,  and  this  hand- 
some and  virtuous  pair  became  the  ancestors  of  a  long  line 
of  descendants  who  have  spread  wide  over  the  land,  adorn- 
ing all  branches  of  industry,  letters,  science,  and  the  arts. 

The  subject  of  this  memoir  was  the  son  of  Joseph,  who 
was  the  son  of  John,  who  was  the  son  of  Joseph  the  second 
son  of  the  first  John  and  his  wife  Priscilla  Mullins.  The 
first  Joseph  was  one  of  the  early  settlers  of  Bridgewater. 
The  mother  of  Peter  was  Hannah  Hall,  and  he  was  born  in 
Middleborough,  adjoining  Bridgewater,  in  1770.  His  father 
was  a  farmer  in  respectable  circumstances,  and  his  son,  after 
preparing  for  college,  entered  Brown  University,  from  which 
he  took  his  degree  in  1792.  This  college,  for  the  ten  years 
of  the  last  century,  furnished  a  number  of  scholars,  who 
became  prominent  in  the  affairs  of  Maine  :  among  these 
were  Job  Nelson  of  Ca.stine,  John  Hathaway  at  Camden, 
John  Merrill  at  Wiscasset,  John  P.  Little  at  Gorham,  Peleg 
Chandler,  Ezekiel  Whitman,  John  Holmes,  Mason  Shaw. 
He  became  a  student  in  the  office  of  Judge  Padelford  in 
Taunton,  and  came  to  Brunswick  in  this  State  near  the  close 
of  179G,  or  early  in  1797.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Cumber- 
land bar  at  the  March  term,  1797,  having  probably  been 

1  For  a  dilation  of  this  simple  story,  in  beautiful  poetic  numbers,  I  must 
cita  Professor  Longfellow,  not  as  an  original  autbority,  but  as  an  accom- 
plisberl  rommentor. 


PETER   0,    ALDEN.  231 

previously  admitted  in  Bristol  County,  Massachusetts.  He 
was  the  only  lawyer  in  Brunswick  for  the  remainder  of  that 
century,  and  for  several  years  in  the  present. 

In  1801,  he  married  Mindwell,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Lyman 
of  York,  by  whom  he  received  some  property.  He  had  no 
children.  His  business  for  a  time  was  vr-i  '  good  :  he  was 
well  read  as  a  lawyer,  and  had  fair  talenr.  and  information, 
but  he  was  no  advocate.  He  was  very  irritable  in  his  tem- 
per,- and  his  manner  when  he  undertook  to  argue  his  cases 
was  abrupt  and  disagreeable.  Whenever  a  shrewd  adver- 
sary wished  to  gain  an  advantage  over  him,  his  certain  way 
was  to  ruffle  his  temper,  when  he  would  be  sure  to  spoil  his 
own  cause.  As  competitors  gathered  around  him,  in  Bruns- 
wick and  the  neighboring  towns,  his  business  declined,  and 
he  was  left  almost  briefless.  Henry  Putnam,  Isaac  Gates, 
and  Ebenezer  Everett,  all  graduates  of  Harvard,  established 
themselves  by  his  side,  and  divided  a  business  that  was  not 
more  than  sufficient  for  one  ;  while  a  diversion  was  also  made 
by  Of  r  in  Topsham,  Mitchell  in  Freeport,  and  enterprising 
lawyers  in  Bath.  To  make  good  the  deficiencies  arising 
from  these  causes,  he  engaged  in  commercial  operations, 
which  for  a  time  were  successful,  but  which  were  suddenly 
and  sadly  blasted  by  the  restrictions  on  mercantile  transac- 
tions, which  took  place  prior  to  the  war  of  1812.  The  lat- 
ter portion  of  his  life  was  embittered  by  disappointment  and 
poverty,  which  produced  hypochondria,  and  left  liim  a  wreck. 
He  died  in  184  j,  at  the  age  of  seventy-threes.  His  wife  sur- 
vived him  a  few  years,  and  died  among  her  kindred  in  York. 

Mr.  Alden  was  large  and  bulky,  but  not  well  proportioned. 
He  was,  as  may  be  inferred  from  the  faults  of  his  temper- 
ament, unpopular  in  the  community  in  which  his  life  was 
spent ;  but  by  some  reaction  in  1820,  perhaps  from  sympa- 
thy, he  was  elected  to  the  House  of  Representatives,  and 


232  CYRUS    KING. 

re-elected  the  three  following  years,  growing  each  time  in 
favor  until  his  election  in  1829  was  nearly  unanimous. 

CYRUS     KING.      1797  —  1817. 

Cyrus  King  was  the  son  of  Richard  King  of  Scarborough, 
by  his  second  wife,  Mary,  daughter  of  Samuel  Blake  of  York. 
He  was  born  in  Scarborough,  September  6, 1772.  His  fa- 
ther was  an  eminent  citizen  of  that  town,  to  whicli  he  moved, 
in  1746,  from  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  where  he  had  been 
engaged  in  commercial  business.  He  was  a  commissary  in 
the  army  at  Annapolis,  Nova  Scotia,  in  1744  ;  and  in  his  new 
residence  he  became  largely  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits, 
in  whicli  he  accumulated  a  fortune.  A  portion  of  his  large 
landed  estate  is  still  enjoyed  by  some  of  his  descendants. 
No  family  in  the  State  has  been  so  productive  of  distin- 
guished persons  as  this.  The  oldest  son  of  Richard  King, 
by  his  first  wife,  Isabella  Bragdon  of  York,  was  Rufus,  emi- 
nent and  prominent  in  the  civil  history  of  the  country,  from 
the  time  of  his  graduation  at  Harvard  in  1717,  to  his  death 
in  1829.  The  own  brother  of  Cyrus,  William  King  of  Bath, 
was  the  first  Governor  of  Maine,  and  held  numerous  other 
offices  of  high  trust,  under  the  State  and  general  govern- 
ments, which  he  ably  discharged.  The  women  of  this  fam- 
ily were  the  Doric  mothers  of  children  of  much  ability  and 
usefulness.  Mary  married  Dr.  Robert  Southgate,  whose 
numerous  family  were  conspicuous  in  the  early  part  of  this 
century ;  Paulina  married  Dr.  Allen  Porter;  and  Dorcas  mar- 
ried Joseph  Leland  of  Saco  ;  and  their  blood  flows  throitgh 
many  channels,  inspiring  energy  and  usefulness, 

Cyrus  was  the  fourth  son  and  youngest  child  of  Richard, 
and  was  two  years  and  a  half  old  when  his  father  died  ;  but 
his  mother  lived  to  watch  over  and  guide  the  expanding  fac- 
ulties of  her  son,  and  enjoy  the  honors  which  lie  acquired. 


CYRUS   KING.  233 

She  died  in  1816.  Mr.  King  was  fitted  for  college  at  Phil- 
lips Academy,  Andovcr,  and  entered  Columbia  College, 
New  York,  in  1790,  from  which  he  graduated  with  the  high- 
est honors  of  his  class.  He  commenced  the  study  of  law 
with  his  brother  Rufus  in  New  York,  who  was  then  a  sen- 
ator in  Congress,  and  on  his  being  appointed  ambassador  to 
England,  he  accompanied  him  as  his  private  secretary.  He 
remained  abroad  one  year,  when,  being  desirous  of  engag- 
ing in  his  chosen  profession,  he  returned,  and  completed 
his  studies  in  the  ofiice  of  the  late  Chief  Justice  Mellen  at 
JJiddeford,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1797. 

We  cannot  better  portray  the  opening  career  of  Mr.  King 
than  by  adopting  the  language  of  Mr.  Folsom,  in  his  History 
of  Saco :  "  Possessing  brilliant  and  highly  cultivated  powers 
of  mind,  united  with  habits  of  patient  and  zealous  appli- 
cation, Mr.  King  soon  rose  to  eminence  in  the  profession. 
As  an  advocate  he  was  unrivaled  ;  his  style  of  speaking  was 
elevated  and  commanding  ;  rich  in  the  higher  graces  of  pol- 
ished oratory,  and  at  the  same  time  argumentative  and  con- 
vincing." "  His  addresses  were  more  like  an  impetuous 
torrent  than  a  smooth  and  gentle  stream."  And  this  was 
the  failing  of  Mr.  King  that  he  could  not  restrain  this  tor- 
rent, for,  as  a  cotcmporary  has  said,  "  his  ardent  temper- 
ament and  impetuosity  of  manner  as  an  advocate  sometimes 
carried  him,  in  his  addresses  to  the  court  and  jury,  beyond 
the  limits  prescribed  in  some  of  Hamlet's  instructions  to  the 
players."  Such  was  my  own  impression,  when  I  have  heard 
him  argue  a  cause  as  though  he  would  carry  the  court  and 
Jury  by  a  storm  of  passionate  utterances.  But  ^fr.  King 
was  a  sound  lawyer  and  a  safe  counsellor. 

*At  the  height  of  party  feeling  growing  out  of  the  declar- 
ation of  war  under  Madison's  administration,  Mr.  King 
was  elected  in  1812  to  the  Thirteenth  Congress,  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  York  District,  as  successor  to  Richard  Cutts, 

16 


234  CYRUS   KING. 

who  had  held  the  office  from  1800  ;  and  he  was  re-elected  for 
the  next  term. 

Mr.  King  was  an  ardent  and  zealous  member  of  tlic  Fed- 
eral party,  and  entered  into  all  their  measures  in  opposition 
to  tlie  war,  with  the  same  heartiness  and  vehemence  which 
characterized  his  impassioned  addresses  at  the  bar.  He  took 
a  very  active  part  in  the  debates  through  the  four  years  that 
he  held  a  seat  in  Congress,  and  at  times  rose  to  a  height  of 
eloquence  rarely  surpassed  in  that  body.  During  his  first 
term  he  was  a  member  of  the  Committee  on  Naval  Affairs  : 
at  the  next  term,  he  had  acquired  such  experience  and  rep- 
utation as  to  cause  him  to  be  placed  on  the  important  com- 
mittees of  Foreign  Affairs  and  the  Public  Lands.  His  prin- 
cipal political  associates  in  Congress  were  his  brother  Rufus, 
Cliristophcr  Gore,  Jeremiah  Mason,  Dana  of  Connecticut,  of 
the  Senate,  Timothy  Pickering,  Pitkin,  Tallmadge,  Baylies, 
and  Daniel  Webster,  who  entered  Congress  from  New  Hamp- 
shire the  same  year  that  he  did.  The  venerable  Pickering 
was  the  avowed  leader  of  the  Federal  party  in  the  House, 
while  Calhoun  of  South  Carolina  marshaled  the  Admin- 
istration forces.  Clay  was  Speaker  the  whole  period.  The 
Federalists,  though  in  a  small  minority,  had  great  ability, 
and  contained  illustrious  names  :  —  Rufus  King  was  a  con- 
summate orator  and  statesman,  and  none  of  Greek  or  Roman 
fame  surpassed  him;  Gore, every  inch  a  gentleman,  states- 
man, and  orator;  and  Webster  was  laying  the  foundation  of 
that  transcendant  reputation  wliich  increased  by  time  to  liis 
last  breath  at  Marshfield.  And  the  purity  and  integrity  of 
Mr.  Pickering,  even  his  adversaries  applauded.  Let  Mr. 
Randolph's  tribute  be  my  illustration.  On  the  bill  to  re- 
duce the  compensation  of  members  to  six  dollars  a  day,  fn 
January,  1817,  Mr.  Pickering  made  allusion  to  his  mod- 
erate circumstances  after  a  long  life  devoted  to  the  service 
of  his  country.     On  a  subsequent  day,  and  on  another  ques- 


CYRUS   KING:   TIMOTHY   PICKERING.  235 

tion,  Mr.  Randolph  said,  "  No  man  in  the  United  States  had 
been  more  misunderstood,  no  man  more  reviled — and  that 
he  said  was  a  bold  declaration  for  him  to  make — than  Alex- 
ander Hamilton,  unless,  perhaps,  it  was  the  venerable  mem- 
ber from  Massachusetts, —  Mr.  Pickering — whom,  whatever 
may  be  said  of  him,  all  Avill  allow  to  be  an  honest  man. 
The  other  day,  wlien  that  honorable  member  was  speaking  of 
his  own  situation,  on  the  compensation  question  —  when  his 
voice  faltered  and  his  eyes  filled  at  the  mention  of  his  pov- 
erty, I  thought  I  would  have  given  the  riches  of  Dives  him- 
self for  his  honorable  feeling,  when  he  spoke  of  his  poverty, 
not  that  of  excess  or  of  extravagance,  but  an  honest  poverty, 
after  a  long  and  laborious  service  in  the  highest  offices  of 
the  government.  If  the  gentleman  would  take  it,"  said  Mr. 
Randolph,  "  I  would  give  him  what  little  I  have  to  have 
inscribed  on  my  tomb,  as  he  may  on  his,  '  Here  lies  the  man" 
who  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  Washington,  and  the  enmity 
of  his  successor.' "  On  this  question  Mr.  Pickering  and 
Mr.  King  took  opposite  sides.  The  subjects  of  principal 
importance  after  peace  took  place,  were  the  Reduction  of  the 
Army,  the  Compensation  Bill — on  which  Mr.  "Webster  made 
a  long  and  able  report.  Internal  Duties,  the  Tariff,  on  a  Uni- 
form National  Currency,  Pensions,  &c.  Among  the  latest 
of  Mr.  King's  addresses  in  the  House,  was  a  speech  on  the 
repeal  of  Internal  Duties  :  he  spoke  on  the  19th  February 
1817,  at  considerable  length,  and,  it  is  added,  with  great  zeal 
in  favor  of  the  repeal. 

Mr.  King  returned  home  at  the  close  of  the  session,  March 
3,  and  died  suddenly  in  Saco,  April  25th  following,  deeply 
lamented  by  the  whole  community,  on  which,  by  his  eminent 
talents,  he  had  conferred  so  much  lustre. 

In  October,  1797,  Mr.  King  married  Hannah,  the  eldest 
daughter  of  Capt.  Seth  Storer  of  Saco,  by  whom  he  had  one 
son, — William  Rufus,  and  several  daughters.    His  son  grad- 


236  JOSIAH   STEBBINS. 

uated  at  Bowdoin  College  in  1823,  became  a  lawyer,  migrated 
west,  and  died  there,  in  1836,  aged  thirty-two. 

JOSIAH     STEBBINS.      1797  —  1829. 

Josiah  Stebbins  was  the  son  of  Josiah  and  Martha  Steb- 
bins  of  Brimfield,  Massachusetts,  where  he  was  born,  Novem- 
ber 19, 1766.  He  was  a  descendant  of  Rowland  Stebbins, 
or  Stebbings,  who  was  born  in  England  in  1594,  came  to 
this  country  from  Ipswich,  England,  in  1634,  first  to  Rox- 
bury,  with  his  wife,  two  sons,  and  two  daughters,  then  to 
Springfield  and  Northampton,  where  he  died  in  1671.  The 
ancestor  was  a  man  of  respectable  standing  in  England  and 
this  country,  and  of"  gentle  blood."  Josiah  pursued  his  stud- 
.ies  preparatory  for  college  with  the  Rev.  Nehemiah  Williams, 
the  able  and  excellent  minister  of  his  native  town,  who  was 
a  graduate  of  Harvard  of  the  class  of  1769  ;  and  entering 
Yale  College  1787,  he  received  his  first  degree  with  the  hon- 
ors of  the  college  in  1791.  Among  his  classmates  were 
Judge  Gould,  the  distinguished  lawyer  and  Judge,  of  Con- 
necticut ;  Samuel  M.  Hopkins ;  and  General  Porter,  Secretary 
of  "War  during  the  administration  of  John  Q.  Adams.  In 
1794,  Mr.  Stebbins  was  appointed  a  tutor  in  Yale  College, 
and  at  the  same  time  pursued  his  legal  studies  in  the  office 
of  the  Hon.  Elizur  Goodrich  of  New  Haven,  one  of  the  most 
eminent  lawyers  in  that  State,  and  afterwards  Professor  of 
Jurisprudence  in  the  college.  He  was  admitted  to  practice 
in  1796,  and  at  the  same  time  retired  from  his  situation  as 
tutor. 

The  next  year,  in  November,  he  married  Laura  Allen  of 
New  Haven,  and  with  this  helpmeet,  a  stout  heart,  and  a 
head  full  of  learning,  he  set  forth  to  take  up  the  burden  of 
life  in  the  wilderness  of  Maine.  He  established  himself  in 
New  Milford,  which  had  been  set  off  from  Pownalhoro  in 


JOSIAH  STEBBINS:  ALNA.  237 

1794,  and  afterwards,  at  his  suggestion,  named  Alna.  This 
is  a  rough  town,  and  rather  an  unpromising  location  for  a 
youthful  pair  accustomed  to  the  refinements  of  New  Haven. 
It  contained,  at  the  time  Mr.  Stebbins  went  there,  but  about 
six  hundred  inhabitants,  and  they,  after  a  period  of  fifty 
years,  had  increased  only  to  nine  hundred  and  sixteen,  by 
the  census  of  1850,  and  even  this  fell  off  during  the  next 
ten  years,  to  eight  hundred  and  seven.  What  inducements 
a  gentleman  of  so  much  cultivation  as  Mr.  Stebbins  had  to 
begin  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  a  place  so  little  invit- 
ing, we  do  not  know.  It  may  have  been  for  the  reason  that 
was  given  by  Gov.  Sullivan,  who,  when  asked  why  he  began 
practice  in  so  poor  a  town  as  Arrowsic,  replied,  that,  as  he 
had  to  break  into  the  world,  he  thought  he  would  try  at  the 
weakest  place.  We  can  no  better  account  for  the  fact  that 
the  Cushings  and  Langdon  should  have  gone  into  so  wild  a 
situation  as  Pownalboro  was,  when  these  brilliant  men  made 
their  homes  there. 

He  was  the  only  lawyer  in  the  town  for  fifteen  years,  and 
here  he  pursued  his  professional  duties  with  great  assiduity 
and  ability,  acquiring  an  extensive  practice  and  reputation. 
He  was  employed  very  much  by  the  settlers,  squatters^  as 
,tliey  were  called,  who  had  entered  upon  unoccupied  territory 
without  title,  and  made  themselves  farms.  These  people, 
at  the  time  of  their  entry,  did  not  know  who  the  proprietors 
were,  and  could  find  nobo  ly  who  would  give  them  a  title. 
The  wliolc  territory  was  in  dispute  between  numerous  claim- 
ants, under  a  variety  of  titles,  and  the  settlers  were  harassed 
aiM  distracted  by  contradictory  claims.  Mr.  Stebbins  deeply 
sympathized  with  these  tenants,  secured  their  confidence, 
and  managed  their  causes  with  great  perseverance.  So  great 
was  the  embarrassment  and  trouble  growing  out  of  these  con- 
flicting claims,  that  the  settlers,  desj)airing  of  any  remedy  in 
the  courts,  resorted  to  arms,  and  resisted  all  attempts  to  sur- 


238  JOSIAH    STEBBINS  :     THE    SQUATTERS. 

vey  their  land  by  the  proprietors.  In  one  of  these  conflicts, 
in  1809,  Paul  Cliadwick,  an  assistant  surveyor,  engaged  in 
running  some  lines,  was  resisted  in  his  undertakings  by  a 
party  of  squatters  disguised  as  Indians,  and  murdered.  The 
persons  suspected  of  this  crime,  seven  in  number,  were 
arrested  and  confined  in  the  jail  at  Augusta,  and  so  bold 
were  the  accessories  of  this  crime  that  an  attempt  was  made, 
or  threatened,  to  break  the  jail  and  rescue  the  prisoners. 
The  militia  was  called  out,  and  the  whole  community  was  in 
a  state  of  extraordinary  excitement.  The  prisoners  were 
indicted  for  murder  and  tried.  They  were  defended  by  Mel- 
len  and  Wilde  with  so  much  skill,  and  the  popular  feeling 
was  so  deeply  enlisted  for  the  guilty  men,  that  they  were 
acquitted  by  the  jury.  The  trial  commenced  November  16, 
1809,  and  occupied  more  than  a  week.  The  Jury  returned 
their  verdict  of  7iot  g^uilty^  November  25.  Solicitor  Gen. 
Davis  was  for  the  government,  and  the  judges  were  Sedg- 
wick, Sewall,  Thacher,  and  Parker.  John  Merrick,  Esq.,  of 
Hallowell,  made  ajid  published  a  stenographic  report  of  the 
trial,  of  great  fullness  and  accuracy,  which  filled  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty-six  octavo  pages. 

To  do  justice  to  these  settlers,  many  of  whom  were  inno- 
cent, and  to  restore  quiet  to  this  large  community,  the  Leg-- 
islature,  in  1808,  passed  an  act  of  limitation  and^settlement ; 
or,  as  it  was  commonly  called,  the  "  Betterment  Act."  This 
provided  that  when  a  tenant  had  been  in  possession  of  land, 
without  title,  for  six  years,  and  had  made  improvements 
upon  it,  the  jury  should  be  instructed  to  inquire  into  the 
value  of  the  improvements,  and  of  the  land,  if  no  improve- 
ments had  been  made  upon  it.  It  was  then  at  the  option  of 
the  demandant  to  abandon  the  premises  to  tlie  tenant  at  the 
estimated  price,  or  to  pay  to  the  tenant  the  estimated  value 
of  his  improvements. 

Mr.  Stebbins  took  great  interest  in  the  adoption  of  this 


JOSIAH    STEBBINS.  239 

just  and  salutary  measure,  and  personally  assisted  in  im- 
proving the  system  after  the  separation  of  Maine.  The 
landed  proprietors  strenuously  resisted  the  passage  of  the 
law  ;  but  the  popular  sentiment  set  so  strongly  in  its  favor, 
and  it  was  so  manifestly  equitable  to  the  honest  and  inno- 
cent settlers,  that  all  opposition  was  overcome.  The  late 
Governor  King,  then  a  representative  from  Bath,  is  said  to 
have  been  active  in  procuring  the  passage  of  the  law. 

In  1813,  Mr.  Stebbins  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Fleas  for  the  second  eastern  circuit,  as  successor 
to  Benjamin  Ames  of  Bath.  Nathan  Weston,  Jr.,  was 
chief  justice,  and  Ebenezer  Thatcher  the  other  associate 
justice  of  this  court.  He  held  this  office  until  the  separa- 
tion of  the  -State,  discharging  its  duties  with  ability  and 
inflexible  integrity. 

In  1816,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Executive  Coun- 
cil of  Massachusetts,  and  was  annually  re-elected  as  long  as 
Maine  continued  united  to  the  old  Commonwealth.  In  the 
same  year  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  electors  of  President 
and  Vice  President :  his  colleagues  in  Maine  were  Prentiss 
Mellen,  John  Low,  Stephen  Longfellow,  William  Abbott, 
and  Timothy  Boutelle.  The  twenty  electoral  votes  of  Mas- 
sachusetts were  given  to  Rufus  King,  who  received  thirty- 
four  votes  out  of  two  hundred  and  seventeen  cast:  the 
remainder  were  given  to  Mr.  Monroe. 

The  same  year,  1810,  was  also  conspicuous  in  the  life  of 
Judge  Stebbins,  as  a  member  of  the  celebrated  abortive 
convention  at  Brunswick  on  the  separation  of  Maine.  The 
majority  of  that  convention,  it  is  well  known,  adopted  the 
famous  report  of  the  committee  for  counting  the  votes  of 
the  people  for  and  against  separation.  By  the  law,  a  ma- 
jority Q^  five  to /oM/*  was  required  to  carry  that  measure 
into  effect.  This  majority  was  not  obtained  from  the  aggre- 
gate of  votes,  according  to  the  usual  construction  of  the 


240  JOSIAH    STEBBINS  :    BRUNSWICK   CONVENTION. 

language  ;  but  the  committee  resorted  to  a  different  method 
of  counting  the  votes.  The  whole  number  cast  was  twenty- 
two  thousand  foiu-  hundred  and  sixty-six,  live-ninths  of. 
which  is  twelve  thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty-one; 
those  in  favor  of  separation  were  but  eleven  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  twenty-seven.  The  committee  thus  finding 
that  the  law  was  not  complied  with  on  this  construction, 
assumed  the  construction  of  the  act  to  be,  that  the  question 
must  be  decided  according  to  the  majorities  of  the  respective 
toivns.  Thus,  "  The  corporate  majorities  of  yeas  must  be 
placed  in  one  column,  and  those  of  nays  in  another,  and 
each  added.  Then,  as  four  is  to  Jive,  so  is  the  aggregate 
majority  of  yeas  in  the  towns  and  plantations  in  favor,  to 
the  aggregate  majority  of  nays  in  those  opposed."  They 
accordingly  ciphered  it  out  in  this  way,  —  "The  whole 
aggregate  majority  of  ijcas  in, the  towns  and  plantations  in 
favor  is  six  thousand  and  thirty-one.  The  whole  aggregate 
majority  of  nai/s  in  the  towns  and  plantations  opposed,  is 
four  thousand  four  hundred  and  nine ;  then  as  live  is  to 
four,  so  is  six  thousand  and  thirty-one  to  four  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  twenty-live,  the  nays  required.  Hence 
it  appears  that  upon  this  construction  there  is  a  majority  of 
five  to  four  at  least  of  the  votes  returned  in  favor  of  said 
District's  becoming  an  independent  State." 

To  this  report  and  decision,  a  large  and  highly  respected 
portion  of  the  convention  took  exception,  and  strenuously 
opposed  it ;  but,  being  overborne  by  a  majority,  a  protest 
against  further  proceeding  was  drawn  up  and  signed  by 
seventy-one  members ;  and,  on  the  9th  of  October,  Judge 
Stebbins  presented  the  protest,  and  moved  to  have  it  entered 
on  the  journals  of  the  convention.  The  following  are 
some  of  the  leading  points  of  the  protest :  "  We  protest 
against  a  separation  of  ^Nlaine  from  tlie  present  government, 
by  any  means  whatever,  without  the  consent  of  the  people. 


JOSIAH   STEBBINS  :   BRUNSWICK   CONVENTION.  241 

No  such  consent  has  been  given."  "  We  protest  against  a 
reference  of  this  subject  to  the  General  Court  for  the  pur- 
pose expressed  in  the  resohition  ;  because  it  is,  in  our  esti- 
mation, a  request  to  that  honorable  body  to  enact  that 
which  cannot  be  reconciled  with  constitutional  principles 
nor  actual  fact."  "  We  protest  against  the  report  on  which 
the  resolutions  are  predicated,  as  indecorous,  as  not  expressed 
in  terms  suitable  to  the  respect  which  this  convention  owes 
itself,  nor  to  the  honor  due  to  the  Legislature."  The  con- 
vention, notwithstanding  the  protest,  went  on  appointing  a 
committee  to  prepare  a  constitution,  others  to  make  appli- 
cation to  the  Legislature  and  to  Congress,  and  another  to 
answer  the  protest. 

At  the  next  session  of  the  Legislature,  the  proceedings  of 
the  convention  were  entirely  discarded,  and  a  resolution 
was  adopted,  "  That  it  is  not  expedient  for  the  present 
General  Court  to  adopt  any  further  measures  in  regard  to 
the  separation  of  the  District  of  Maine." 

The  separation  postponed  at  that  time  was  accomplished 
in  1820 :  in  1821,  Judge  Stebbins'  seat  upon  the  bench  was 
supplied  by  a  friend  of  the  separation  of  which  he  was  not, 
and  he  returned  to  the  practice  of  his  profession,  which  he 
continued  to  the  close  of  his  life.  In  1825,  he  was  elected 
a  Senator  to  the  Legislature  from  Lincoln  County,  and  re- 
elected the  two  subsequent  years.  In  this  situation,  his 
learning  and  experience  were  valual)le.  He  made,  daring 
this  period,  several  important  reports,  two  of  which  were  in 
favor  of  appropriations  for  the  support  of  deaf  and  dumb 
pupils  in  the  Hartford  Asylum,  and  several  elaborate  reports 
on  the  sul)jcct  of  the  State's  Prison.  Judge  Stcl»bins  was  a 
better  counsellor  and  legislator  than  a  debater,  although  he 
often  engaged  in  debate,  and  was  a  frequent  advocate  at  the 
bar.  But  in  this  line  his  efforts  were  not  happy,  his  manner 
was  awkward,  and  his  style  confused,  overloaded,  and  ob- 


242  JOSIAH   STEBBINS  :    BENJAMIN    WHITWELL. 

scure.  One  of  his  cotemporarics,  Mr.  Allen,  who  practiced 
in  the  same  county  with  him,  says,  "  He  did  not  excel  as  an 
advocate.  He  lacked  method,  and  the  power  of  condensing 
his  thoughts.  His  arguments  were  desultory,  involved  in 
parentheses,  and  leaving  no  distinct  impression.  He  was 
distinguished  for  his  affability,  for  his  inflexible  integrity, 
and  tlie  purity  of  his  moral  character."  ^  He  was  extremely 
careless  in  his  pecuniary  transactions.  He  kept  no  accounts 
with  his  clients,  and  settled  none  ;  and,  although  economical, 
he  permitted  his  claims  to  be  barred  by  the  statute  of  limit- 
ations, unless  his  debtors  chose  voluntarily  to  pay  him.  But 
he  was  a  good  man,  a  good  citizen,  and  an  able,  honest  law- 
yer. At  the  Lincoln  bar,  he  stood  in  the  front  rank  ;  in  the 
management  of  his  causes,  he  was  true  and  faithful  to  his 
client,  and  permitted  no  part  of  his  case  to  be  lost  by  any 
fault  of  his.  In  private  life,  he  was  a  warm  and  affectionate 
friend  to  those  who  won  and  deserved  his  confidence.  A 
friend  of  learning  and  learned  institutions,  he  was  one  of 
the  Overseers  of  Bowdoin  College  and  afterwards  a  Trustee, 
from  1816  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  rarely  omitted  at- 
tending the  commencement  exercises  and  other  important 
occasions  of  the  institution,  and  took  a  warm  interest  in  its 
progress  and  success. 

He  died  at  Alna,  much  lamented,  March  1,  1826,  aged 
sixty-three,  leaving  one  daughter,  Laura,  an  only  child,  who 
inherited  the  literary  qualities  of  her  father,  and  lives  unmar- 
ried in  Bangor.     His  widow  survived  him  a  few  years. 

BENJAMIN     WHITWELL.      171)  6— 1812. 

Benjamin  Whitwell  was  the  son  of  Samuel  Whitwell,  a 
hard-ware  merchant  in  Boston,  who  died  in  1828,  aged  sev- 

1  Sixth  Volume  Maine  Historical  Collections,  p.  60. 


BENJAMIN  WHITWELL.  243 

enty-six,  and  was  born  there  June  22,  1772.  He  was  pre- 
pared for  college  in  the  famed  Latin  school  of  that  town, 
which  he  entered  in  1779,  at  the  age  of  seven  years,  and 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1790 ;  of  whicli  class,  one 
survivor,  Josiah  Quincy,  clarum  et  venerabile  nomen,  yet 
remains,  the  oldest  living  graduate.  Mr.  Whitvvell  ranked 
well  in  college,  being  distinguished  more  in  the  belles  lettres 
than  in  the  profound  branches  of  study.  This  was  man- 
ifested by  his  being  selected  to  deliver  a  poem  at  Commence- 
ment, and  again  when  he  took  his  second  degree.  On  the  lat- 
ter occasion,  he  took  for  his  subject"  Seclusion."  This  was 
followed  by  a  still  higher  tribute  to  his  poetical  talent,  in  his 
being  selected  to  deliver  the  poem  in  1806,  before  the  Phi 
Beta  Kappa  Society.  On  this  occasion,  his  subject  was  "  Folly 
as  it  flies."  He  was  then  in  the  practice  of  law  at  Augusta, 
and  this  assignment  shows  that  the  stern  duties  of  the  legal 
practice  liad  not  hardened  his  imagination,  nor  driven  the 
love  of  the  muses  from  his  heart. 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Whitwell  entered  the  office  of 
Judge  John  Sprague,  a  very  distinguished  lawyer  of  Lancas- 
ter, Worcester  County,  whose  daughter  he  afterward  mar- 
ried. He  was  admitted  to  the  bar,  and  came  to  Augusta  in 
Maine,  in  1796.  This  town  was  then  a  part  of  Hallowell, 
from  which  it  was  separated  in  February,  1797,  and  called 
Harrington,  which  name  was  changed  to  Augusta  in  June 
of  the  same  year.  It  then  contained  a  population  of  ten  or 
eleven  hundred,  and  but  one  lawyer,  James  Bridge  ;  Wil- 
liam Lithgow,  Jr.,  had  retired  from  practice,  and  died  that 
year.  By  his  connections  in  Boston,  he  had  a  very  good 
business,  having  charge  of  some  large  tracts  of  land  belong- 
ing to  absent  proprietors.  But  his  studies  and  tastes  were 
not  suited  to  encounter  the  sharp  conflicts  of  the  bar  in 
a  rude  state  of  society,  and  in  pursuing  the  more  gentle  ten- 
dencies of  his  mind,  he  devoted  to  literary  labors  much  of 


244  BENJAMIN    WHITWELL. 

the  time  which  would  have  made  him  a  good  lawyer,  and  an 
eloquent  advocate.  He  wrote  much  for  the  press,  and  as  an 
acquaintance  happily  said,  "  He  was  more  fond  of  poetry 
than  of  pleading."  It  was  this,  perhaps,  that  led  him  to 
associate  in  business,  partners  more  inclined  to  the  hard 
tasks  of  the  profession  than  he  was ;  of  these  were  succes- 
sively, Williams  Emmons,  son  of  the  celebrated  preacher 
and  controversial  divine  of  Franklin,  Massachusetts  ;  Henry 
W.  Fuller,  and  John  Potter. 

Mr.  Whitwell  remained  in  Augusta  until  1812,  when  he 
removed  to  Boston,  where  his  own  family  connections  and 
those  of  his  second  wife,  Lucy  P.,  a  daughter  of  John  Scol- 
lay,  a  former  merchant  in  that  city,  resided.  There  he  pur- 
sued his  profession,  was  in  1816  Assistant  Secretary  of  State 
under  Alden  Bradford,  and  a  representative  from  Boston  in 
1818.  He  was  a  zealous  politician  of  the  Federal  school, 
and  spoke,  and  wrote,  and  acted  for  the  cause,  as  long  as  it 
kept  up  its  organization  as  a  party.  While  at  Augusta,  he 
was  once  or  twice  a  candidate  for  representative  to  Congress, 
and  in  1805  represented  that  town  in  the  General  Court. 
In  his  political  opinions  he  was  a  co-worker  with  Wilde  and 
Parker,  Bailey,  Orr,  Abbot,  Longfellow,  and  numerous  oth- 
er able  and  honorable  men  through  the  State  ;  but  the  party 
was  for  years  in  a  desperate  minority  in  Maine,  and  adventur- 
ers in  that  school  had  little  chance  for  advancement.  His 
gifts  as  an  orator  and  writer  were  often  put  in  requisition  : 
in  1800,  on  the  22d  of  February,  he  delivered  a  eulogy  before 
the  people  of  Augusta  and  Hallowell  on  the  death  of  Wash- 
ington, and  on  the  4th  of  July,  1814,  he  was  the  orator  of 
the  day  before  the  town  authorities  of  Boston  while  the  war 
with  Great  Britain  was  at  its  liefght,  in  which  he  did  not 
spare  the  administration  of  the  General  Government,  and 
echoed  the  deeply  felt  and  loudly  exju'csscd  sentiment  of 
Massachusetts  against  the  war.    Tiie  same  year  he  was  called 


BENJAMIN    WHITWELL.  245 

upon  to  pronounce  the  annual  address  before  the  Massachu- 
setts Charitable  Fire  Society,  a  celebrated  institution  of  that 
day  in  Boston.  Both  of  these  orations  were  published,  and 
were  highly  finished  pieces  of  composition. 

Mr.  Whitwell  was  a  distant  relative  of  Chief  Justice  Par- 
sons, and  when  that  great  jurist  presided  in  his  court  at 
Augusta,  he  made  Mr.  Whitwell's  house  his  home.  A  friend 
has  given  me  an  account  of  his  interview  with  the  Chief  Jus- 
tice on  one  of  these  occasions.  "  I  called  upon  him,"  he 
says,  "  with  my  mother.  He  wore  on  his  head  a  study  cap, 
and  a  red  bandanna  about  his  neck.  He  kindly  inquired 
about  my  pursuits,  and  when  I  told  him  I  was  a  student  at 
law,  he  gave  me  in  conversation  a  most  elaborate  lecture  on 
the  study  of  the  law,  enumerated  a  list  of  elementary  works 
to  be  read,  and  dwelt  much  on  slow  and  repeated  perusal  of 
some  of  them,  especially  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  and 
pointed  out  the  way  to  read  them  advantageously.  On  my 
return  home  I  wrote  down  these  valuable  instructions,  and 
I  think  they  made  a  permanent  and  useful  impression  upon 
me." 

In  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  Mr.  "Whitwell  had  been  fee- 
ble, and  was  in  a  decline.  He  was  advised  to  spend  a  win- 
ter in  a  Southern  climate,  and  he  went  to  Charleston,  South 
Carolina,  near  the  close  of  1824,  without,  however,  material 
benefit,  and  on  his  return  he  died  at  sea,  in  April,  182"). 

Several  descriptions  of  Mr.  Wliitwell,  and  my  own  recol- 
lections, concur  in  representing  him  as  a  handsome  man, 
and  of  fine  personal  appearance.  He  had  a  tall  and  grace- 
ful figure,  a  broad,  white  forehead,  with  a  dark,  heavy  eye- 
brow, dark  hair,  and  a  full,  dark  eye.  His  style  of  dress 
was  elegant,  his  manners,  though  reserved,  were  graceful ; 
his  whole  appearance  commanded  respect,  and  indicated  a 
high  order  of  talents,  which,  in  a  profession  more  congenial 


246  BENJAMIN   WHITWELL  :    JOHN    MERRILL. 

to  his  taste,  and  with  an  active  business  talent,  would  have 
insured  eminent  success. 

Mr.  Whitwell,  as  we  have  intimated,  was  twice  married. 
By  his  first  wife,  the  daughter  of  Judge  John  Sprague  of  Lan- 
caster, he  had  three  children  ;  viz.,  John,  wlio  became  a  pro- 
fessor in  a  college  in  Ohio ;  Samuel,  settled  in  Lancaster ;  and 
Sarah,  who  married  Mr.  Tomkins.  Li  May,  1808,  he  mar- 
ried Lucy  P.  ScoUay,  of  Boston,  whose  family  gave  the  name 
to  the  buildings  at  the  junction  of  Court  and  Tremont  streets. 
By  her  he  had  William  S.,  Treasurer  of  the  Boston  and  Rox- 
bury  Mill  Corporation  ;  Benjamin,  deceased  ;  Lucy,  married 
to  William  Parker  the  distinguished  engineer  ;  and  Eliza- 
beth.    His  widow  is  still  living  in  Boston. 

JOHN     MERRILL.      17  9  8  —  1816. 

John  Merrill  was  the  son  of  John  Merrill,  a  respectable 
citizen  of  Topsham,  and  a  Justice  of  the  Peace  for  Lincoln 
County.  He  was  born  in  Topsham  in  1770.  His  early  life 
was  spent  upon  his  father's  farm.  At  a  mature  age  he  pre- 
pared for  college,  and  entering  Brown  University,  he  took  his 
degree  in  1793,  in  a  class  of  twelve  members,  in  which  he 
was  among  the  best.  He  was  regarded  as  a  superior  scholar, 
and  particularly  thorough  in  mathematics,  for  which  he  had 
both  fondness  and  taste.  Determining  to  become  a  lawyer, 
he  entered  the  office  of  Silas  Lee  at  Wiscasset,  and  having 
passed  through  the  usual  course  with  diligence,  and  a  mind 
well  stored  with  legal  principles,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar 
in  1798,  and  commenced  practice  in  Hallovvell.  He  remained 
in  that  place  but  about  two  years,  when  he  removed  to  Wis- 
casset, and  we  soon  after  find  him  a  partner  with  his  former 
instructor,  Mr.  Lee,  whose  numerous  avocations  as  member 
of  Congress,  United  States  Attorney,  and  Judge  of  Probate, 
called  him  much  from  liis  office.      Mr.    Merrill  was  a  well- 


JOHN   MERRILL.  247 

read  lawyer,  and  a  safe  and  judicious  counsellor,  but  a  nat- 
ural diffidence  prevented  him  from  making  any  figure  as  an 
advocate.  By  this  defect  he  lost  the  opportunities  which 
the  forum  gives  for  the  exercise  and  display  of  legal  quali- 
ties, and  necessarily  took  a  lower  position  in  the  profession 
than  his  legal  ability  and  acquirements  might  have  justly 
claimed.  His  tastes  seemed  rather  to  have  run  outside  of 
the  bar.  I  am  informed  by  one  who  knew  him  intimately 
that  he  had  a  fine  genius,  composed  rapidly,  and  wrote  in  a 
polished  style,  and  that  he  was  very  quick  and  expert  in 
drawing  up  a  legal  instrument.  He  wrote  a  beautiful  hand, 
was  a  great  reader  and  deep  thinker,  and  did  not  disdain  to 
pay  his  court  to  the  muses,  in  which  gentle  service  he 
acquired  no  small  repute.  Many  of  his  verses  were  circu- 
lated in  manuscript  among  his  friends,  and  were  read  with 
pleasure  and  applause.  Another  venerable  cotemporary 
informs  me  that  he  was  a  man  of  good  sense  and  general 
knowledge,  had  a  fine  taste,  and  was  remarkable  for  his  social 
qualities.  He  was  a  very  handsome  man,  six  feet  in  height, 
of  portly  figure  and  pleasing  address.  With  these  fine 
qualities,  why  should  not  this  gentleman,  so  prepossessing 
in  appearance  and  manners,  and  so  well  endowed,  have  left 
upon  his  times  a  lasting  impression  ?  He  was  devoid  of 
ambition  and  energy,  and  too  desultory  in  his  etforts  when 
he  made  them  ;  he  sacrificed  to  ease  and  indulgence  powers 
and  faculties,  whicli  might  have  given  him  an  elevated  position 
in  the  community,  and  conferred  a  permanent  benefit  upon 
his  State  and  his  profession. 

It  is  said  of  Mr.  Merrill  that,  when  a  young  man,  he  was 
famed  for  his  agility  and  strength  as  a  wrestler.  He  was 
challenged  one  day  by  a  large  party  in  To])sliam,  which  he 
did  not  decline,  and  engaged  them  one  after  another  from 
twelve  o'clock  till  sunset,  throwing  them  all  successively  in 
every  form  of  the  sport.     Hut  the   ellort  was  so  exhausting, 


248  JOHN   MERRILL:   JAMES  D.  HOPKINS. 

that  it  produced  an  unfavorable  effect  upon  his  constitution, 
and  led  to  serious  consequences.  Wrestling  was  a  very  fash- 
ionable exercise  among  young  men  in  the  last  century  and 
the  beginning  of  the  present. 

It  was  one  of  the  college  customs  at  Cambridge,  for  the 
Freshmen,  on  the  entry  of  tlie  class,  to  be  initiated  into  their 
new  life  by  a  wrestling  match.  The  Sophomores  challenged 
the  new  comers  to  a  trial  of  strength  in  this  ancient  and  clas- 
sical exercise.  The  Senior  class  was  the  umpire,  and  the  vic- 
tors were  treated  to  a  supper  on  their  invitation. 

Mr.  Merrill  married  Miss  Mary  Webster  of  Wiscasset,  by 
whom  he  had  a  family.  A  son  Charles  is  a  cashier  of  a  bank 
in  Maiden,  Massachusetts  ;  and  a  daughter,  who  married  Mr. 
Tristram  Jordan  of  Saco,  now  lives  in  Portland,  a  widow 
with  children.  Mr.  Merrill  died  in  Topsham,  June,  1816, 
aged  forty-six. 

JAMES     DEAN     HOPKINS.      1797  —  1840. 

James  D.  Hopkins  was  born  at  Axminster,  a  manufactur- 
ing town  on  the  river  Ax,  in  Devonshire,  England,  in  1773. 
He  came  to  Portland,  in  this  State,  at  the  age  of  eleven 
years,  with  his  father,  Tliomas  Hopkins,  who,  with  many 
other  enterprising  Englishmen,  hastened  to  this  country  on 
the  conclusion  of  peace,  for  a  free  air  and  a  broader  field 
for  their  energy.  The  father  was  a  respectable  merchant, 
and  the  owner  of  large  landed  property,  which  descended 
to  his  children,  with  an  honored  name.  He  built  a  large 
block  of  stores  with  dwellings  connected,  according  to  the 
English  style,  on  Middle  street  in  Portland,  in  part  of  which 
he  traded  and  dwelt,  and  where  he  died,  leaving  two  sons 
and  three  daughters. 

James  did  not  receive  a  collegiate  education,  but  after 
applying  himself  diligently  to  rudimentary  studies  he  entered 


JAMES    D.    HOPKINS  :   SPECIAL   PLEADING.  249 

the  oflfice  of  Daniel  Davis,  then  the  most  brilliant  lawyer  at 
the  bar  in  Maine,  and  earnestly  devoted  himself  not  only  to 
acquire  the  knowledge  of  his  special  profession,  but  of  gen 
eral  literature.  He  became  well  grounded  in  legal  princi- 
ples, and  particularly  in  that  then  most  important  branch, 
"  special  pleading,"  which  he  applied  with  adroitness  in  his 
subsequent  practice.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  March, 
1797,  and  immediately  entered  on  a  remunerative  practice. 

He  was  not  only  an  adroit  special  pleader,  but  he  was 
remarkably  well  read  in  the  law  of  real  estate,  for  which  his 
skill  gave  him  numerous  engagements.  In  respect  to  special 
pleading,  —  now  almost  a  "  misnomer,"  and  forgotten  at  the 
bar, —  he  may  have  carried  his  art  to  excess  of  refinement,  as 
is  apt  to  be  the  case  with  those  who  have  peculiar  aptitude 
in  any  subject  which  has  taken  possession  of  the  mind. 
It  was  sometimes  diverted  from  its  legitimate  purpose  of 
opening  the  pathway  to  truth,  into  intricate  subtleties  and 
tricks  of  deception.  We  cannot  but  think  that  one  of  the 
causes  of  the  falling  off  in  the  high  standard  of  excellence 
in  our  profession  in  Maine,  may  be  traced  to  the  abrogation 
of  nearly  all  the  forms  of  pleading  ;  —  when  they  were  in 
force,  one  could  not  be  a  good  lawyer  who  was  not  tolerably 
well  versed  in  them.  Sir  William  Jones  says, "  Our  science 
of  special  pleading  is  an  excellent  logic  ;  it  is  admirably  cal- 
culated for  the  purpose  of  analyzing  a  cause,  of  extracting, 
like  the  root  of  an  equation,  the  true  points  in  dispute." 
Again,  "  It  is  reducil)le  to  the  strictest  rules  of  pure  dialect ; 
and  if  it  were  scientifically  taught  in  our  public  seminaries 
of  learning,  would  fix  the  attention,  give  a  ha1)it  of  reason- 
ing closely,  quicken  the  apj)rehension,  and  invigorate  the 
understanding ;  but,"  he  adds,  "  it  may  unquestionably  be 
perverted  to  very  bad  purposes."  It  was  observing  the  "  bad 
purposes,"  that  made  Lord  Mansfield  an  avowed  enemy  of 
special  pleaders^  if  not  of  the  science. 

17 


250  JAMES   D.    HOPKINS. 

Mr.  Hopkins  was  for  several  years  a  leading  member  of 
the  bar,  and  had  more  business  than  any  other  member  in 
the  early  part  of  this  century.  As  an  advocate,  he  was  zeal- 
ous, ardent,  and  impassioned.  His  faults  were,  too  much  ex- 
citability and  too  much  expansion.  He  entered  with  his 
whole  soul  into  the  cause  of  his  client,  and  spared  nothing 
which  thorough  investigation  and  untiring  industry  could 
accomplish  for  his  success.  A  short  time  previous  to  the 
appointment  of  -liis  legal  instructor,  Mr.  Davis,  as  Solicitor 
General,  he  formed  a  partnership  with  him,  which  continued 
until  Mr.  Davis  left  the  State,  in  1804. 

During  the  existence  of  the  Federal  party,  Mr.  Hopkins 
entered  zealously  into  the  controversies  of  the  day  in  sup- 
port of  its  principles.  His  addresses  at  public  meetings 
were  ardent  and  impulsive  ;  at  times,  eloquent,  and  on  occa- 
sions of  high  excitement,  often  overwrought  and  violent.  In 
the  latter  portion  of  his  life,  he  took  no  active  part  in  politics, 
but  quietly  and  steadily  pursued  his  literary  and  legal  labors 
with  the  love  and  interest  which  had  guided  his  early 
studies. 

For  industry  and  patient  labor  he  was  a  pattern  to  young 
men  who  are  seeking  preferment  in  life.  When  not  engaged 
in  the  active  duties  of  his  profession,  he  devoted  liimself  to 
study  and  general  improvement.  He  wasted  no  time  in  mere 
amusement.  He  was  fond  of  antiquarian  researches,  and 
it  gave  him  particular  pleasure  to  trace  pedigrees,  and  to 
examine  ancient  titles.  With  a  warm  imagination  and  fond- 
ness for  labor,  he  prepared,  in  his  leisure  hours,  a  work  of 
fiction,  in  two  volumes,  founded  upon  the  early  settlement 
of  Portland,  which  was  highly  interesting  as  a  historical  novel. 
It  was  never  published.  His  taste  in  this  department  of 
research  was  also  displayed  ^n  an  address  which  he  delivered 
before  the  members  of  the  Cumberland  bar  in  1883,  which 
was  published  in  a  pamphlet  of  seventy-nine  (pages.      The 


JAMES   D.    HOPKINS.  251 

work  exhibits  careful  investigation,  and  preserves  valuable 
memoi-ials  relative  to  law  and  lawyers  in  Maine.  A  single 
extract  will  sliow  the  tendency  of  his  own  studies.  In 
speaking  of  some  libraries  in  the  last  century,  he  says  they 
contained  "  Good  store  of  black-letter  learning,  a  few  vol- 
umes of  which,  modern  notions  notwithstanding,  are  worth 
a  multitude  of  recent  publications." 

During  the  latter  period  of  his  life,  he  was  engaged  in  the 
preparation  of  a  work  on  Insurance,  which  was  nearly  ready 
for  the  press ;  but  the  full  and  accurate  volumes  of  Mr. 
Phillips  of  Boston,  on  the  same  subject,  had  so  entirely  oc- 
cupied the  ground  that  he  did  not  deem  it  advisable  further 
to  pursue  his  work.  Mr.  Hopkins  also  left  copious  notes 
and  memoranda  on  the  law  of  real  estate ;  and  his  man- 
uscripts show  an  immense  amount  of  labor  in  the  examin- 
ation of  titles,  and  in  explaining  and  illustrating  the 
records. 

He  was  three  times  married.  His  first  wife  was  Mary,  a 
daughter  of  John  Bagiey  of  Portland,  to  whom  he  was  mar- 
ried December  18,  1801.  She  died  within  three  months  of 
their  union.  In  December,  1804,  he  married  Dorcas,  a 
,  daughter  of  Capt.  Daniel  Tucker  of  Portland,  by  whom  he 
left  three  daughters  who  are  still  living,  and  arc  his  only  sur- 
viving children.  Mr.  Hopkins  had  a  younger  brother, 
Tliomas,  who  read  law  with  him,  and  a  few  montlis  with 
Judge  "Wilde  at  Ilallowell,  and  was  admitted  to  the  l)ar  of 
Cumberland  in  1805.  We  quote  the  following  tender  memo- 
rial of  him  from  the  Address  to  the  Bar  above  referred  to  : 
"He  commenced  practice  in  Bridgton,  where  he  remained 
about  a  year,  and  then  removed  to  Portland  in  ill  licalth, 
which  continued  and  increased  until  his  death,  Dec.  8, 1807. 
Cut  off  in  the  morning  of  his  days,  he  had  but  little  oppor- 
tunity of  showing  his  ])rofessional  (lualifications  or  acijuisi- 
tions.  What  he  was,  and  what  he  promised  to  be,  it  should 
be  the  office  of  some  other  to  declare.    He  was  my  brother." 


252  GEORGE   W.    WALLING  FORD. 

GEORGE   WASHINGTON   WALLINGFORD.      1798  —  1824. 

George  W.  "Wallingford  was  born  at  Somersworth,  in  New 
Hampshire,  February  19,  1778.  His  father,  Samuel  Wal- 
lingford, was  killed  in  a  naval  engagement  between  the  Drake 
and  Ranger  in  April,  1778.  This  engagement  was  one  of 
the  daring  actions  of  the  renowned  naval  commander,  Paul 
Jones.  It  took  place  in  April,  1778,  off  Belfast,  Ireland. 
Jones  had  been  cruising  on  that  coast,  and  by  his  many  bold 
enterprises  had  struck  terror  into  the  minds  of  the  people 
in  that  neighborhood.  To  stop  his  marauding,  the  sloop-of- 
war  Drake,  of  twenty  guns,  was  prepared  for  sea,  on  board 
of  which  a  large  number  of  volunteers  entered  for  a  holiday 
expedition,  making  her  crew  one  hundred  and  sixty  men, 
so  determined  were  they  to  get  rid  of  this  pest.  On  the 
morning  of  April  24th,  Jones's  ship,  the  Ranger,  of  eighteen 
guns,  was  off  the  harbor,  and  the  Drake  immediately  pro- 
ceeded to  get  under  way,  and  came  slowly  out  to  sea.  The 
Ranger  ran  down  toward  her,  and,  hauling  up  her  courses, 
lay  to,  to  await  her  arrival.  On  her  coming  up,  Jones  sheered 
across  her  bow,  and  poured  into  her  the  first  broadside. 
The  engagement  was  maintained  with  great  energy  and  • 
obstinacy  at  close  quarters  for  more  than  an  hour,  when,  the 
captain  of  the  Drake  receiving  a  musket  ball  in  his  head, 
the  crew  called  for  quarter,  and  the  action  ceased.  Tlie 
captain  and  lieutenant  of  the  Drake  died  of  their  wounds, 
and  forty-two  of  her  crew  were  killed.  The  loss  on  board 
the  Ranger  was  the  brave  and  noble  Lieutenant  Wallingford, 
and  one  seaman  killed  and  six  wounded.  The  prize  was 
taken  to  Brest,  with  two  hundred  prisoners,  being  double 
the  number  of  his  own  crew,  and  Jones  was  greeted  with 
lively  demonstrations  of  joy  by  the  American  commission- 
ers, in  which  the  French  court  heartily  joined. 

One  incident  honorable  to  the  humanity  of  Lieut.  Wal- 


GEORGE   W.   WALLINGFORD.  253 

lingford,  we  cannot  forbear  to  mention : — Jones,  just  previous 
to  the  above-named  battle,  liad  entered  Whitehaven  harbor 
in  the  night,  with  the  intention  of  destroying  tlie  town  and 
a  large  fleet  of  vessels  lying  there.  He  assigned  to  Wal- 
lingford  the  duty  of  firing  a  portion  of  the  fleet,  while  he 
scaled  the  forts  and  spiked  the  guns.  Having  entirely  ac- 
complished this  object,  he  was  surprised  not  to  see  the  ship- 
ping on  fire.  Meeting  Wallingford  on  the  .pier,  he  inquired 
as  to  the  failure  of  his  part  of  the  plan.  He  stated  that  his 
light  had  gone  out,  and  besides,  he  did  not  see  that  anything 
could  be  gained  by  burning  poor  people's  property. 

Left  in  infancy  an  orphan,  the  son  was  compelled  to  endure 
hardships  and  to  struggle  through  many  trials.  He  was 
educated  at  Harvard  College,  from  which  he  took  his  first 
degree  in  1795,  having  for  his  classmate  Bishop  Dehon  of 
South  Carolina,  Benjamin  Gorham  of  Boston,  and  Caleb 
Bradley  and  Joshua  Wingatc  of  Maine.  The  last  survivor 
of  this  class  of  forty  was  Caleb  Bradley,  a  clergyman,  who 
died  in  Westbrook,  June  3,  1861,  at  the  ripe  age  of  eighty- 
nine. 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Wallingford  entered  the  office  of 
Dudley  Hubbard  in  South  Berwick,  and  became  an  atten- 
tive and  diligent  student.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in. 
1798,  and  establislied  himself  in  the  profession  at  Kenne- 
bunk  in  1800.  Joseph  Thomas  was  the  only  practitioner  in 
the  village,  then  a  part  of  the  town  of  Wells,  since  incorpo- 
rated as  a  separate  town  by  the  Indian  name  of  Kenncbunk. 
Mr.  Wallingford  had  an  advantage  over  Mr.  Thomas,  in  that 
he  was  a  good  advocate  and  a  forcible  and  pleasing  speaker, 
while  Mr.  Tliomas  rarely  argued  his  own  cases  to  the  jury. 
But  Wallingford,  two  years  after,  was  encountered  by  a  com- 
petitor, his  equal  in  all  the  qualities  of  a  lawyer,  advocate, 
and  a  man,  the  late  Joseph  Dane,  although  not  gifted  with 
the  courage  and  impulsiveness  of  the  former.     These  qual- 


254  WALLING  FORD  :    CONSTITUTIONAL   CONVENTION. 

ities,  with  a  firm  will  and  a  determined  resolution,  very 
useful,  if  not  necessary  to  the  advancement  of  a  lawyer, 
oftentimes  placed  Wallingford  in  the  van  of  his  compet- 
itor. He  was  ardent,  bold,  and  independent,  both  as  a  law- 
yer and  politician ;  and  as  an  active  member  of  the  Federal 
party,  he  toolc  a  prominent  position  in  the  contests  which 
fiercely  raged  in  the  early  part  of  the  century.  In  1813,  he 
was  elected  one  of  the  representatives  of  Wells  to  the  Gen- 
eral Court,  and  was  successively  re-elected  during  the  con- 
tinuance of  our  connection  with  Massachusetts.  Here  he 
took  an  active  part  in  the  discussions  of  the  great  questions 
which  agitated  the  country,  advocating  with  boldness  and 
ability  the  leading  measures  of  the  Federal  party.  In  181G, 
he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Brunswick  Convention,  and 
united  with  those  who  protested  against  the  action  of  the 
majority,  in  declaring  that  the  conditions  of  separation  had 
not  been  complied  with.  They  did  not  consider  that  the 
requisite  majority  had  been  obtained.  And  this  view  was 
sustained  by  the  Legislature.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the 
Convention  held  in  Portland,  in  October,  1819,  which  adopt- 
ed the  Constitution  under  which  we  now  live.  He  bore  his 
part  ably  in  the  debates,  and  from  his  experience  in  the  rules 
of  deliberative  assemblies,  he  was  a  useful  and  honored  mem- 
ber of  the  Convention.  He  did  not,  however,  sign  the  Con- 
stitution, from  objections  to  some  portions  of  it,  which  he 
and  thirty-one  other  members,  who  also  declined  subscribing 
it,  were  unable  to  have  amended  in  conformity  with  their 
views.  Among  these  were  all  the  delegates  from  AVells, 
four  in  number, '^and  the  five  delegates  from  Portland,  which 
included  Judges  Whitman  and  Emery,  Messrs.  Asa  Clapp 
and  Isaac  Ilsley.  Tiic  principal  objection  was  to  the  appor- 
tionment of  representatives,  which  the  minority  considered 
unequal  and  unjust,  as  it  deprived  the  inhal)itants  of  large 
towns  of  their  just  proportion  of  members  in  the  legislative 


GEORGE   W.    WALLINGFORD.  255 

body.  The  discussion  on  this  subject  was  long  and  learned, 
in  whicli  the  most  al)Ie  delegates  in  the  Convention  took  part, 
as  Judges  Bridge,  Thacher,  and  Green,  Mr.  Holmes,  Mr. 
Whitman,  Allen  of  Norridgewock,  Ames,  Wallingford, 
Parris,  &c. 

As  may  be  inferred,  Mr.  Wallingford  was  not  an  advocate 
for  the  separation  ;  he  preferred  a  connection  with  Massachu- 
setts, which,  with  Maine,  constituted  a  large  and  powerful 
State,  until  our  resources,  population,  and  wealth  should  be 
so  much  increased  as  to  give  us  some  consideration  in  the 
confederacy.  Another  argument  with  him  undoubtedly 
was  of  a  political  nature :  he  preferred  the  conservative 
character  and  the  high  moral  standard  of  the  Old  Bay  State, 
to  swinging  off  into  the  control  of  the  Democratic  party, 
whicli  would  have  charge  of  affairs  in  the  new  State. 

His  membership  in  the  Convention  was  his  last  public 
ofRcc  with  the  exception  of  his  representation  of  his  town  in 
the  legislature  of  Maine  in  1823.  The  next  year,  January 
19, 1824,  he  died,  much  honored  and  lamented,  at  the  age 
of  forty-eight,  in  the  midst  of  his  vigor  and  usefulness. 

He  was  a  good  lawyer,  a  popular  advocate  and  debater, 
and  a  man  of  stern  principles  and  rigid  integrity.  He  was 
earnest  and  forcible  in  contending  for  truth,  or  maintaining 
his  principles,  or  advocating  the  rights  and  interests  of  his 
clients.  He  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens, 
and  was  esteemed  as  a  conscientious  public  man. 

In  September,  1806,  he  married  Miss  Abigail  Chadbourne 
of  Berwick,  a  sister  of  Ichabod  R.  Chadbourne,  the  respect- 
ed lawyer  of  Eastport,  by  whom  he  had  one  daughter,  who 
married  and  died  without  issue.  His  wife  died  in  1808.  He 
married  for  his  second  wife,  Mary,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Jacob 
Fisher  of  Kennebuuk,  by  whom  he  had  one  son  and  four 
daughters,  who  survived  him. 


256  JUDAH   DANA. 

JUDAH     DANA.      179  8—184  5. 

Judali  Dana  was  the  first  lawyer  that  ventured  into  that 
part  of  Maine  now  embraced  in  the  county  of  Oxford.  He 
established  himself  at  Fryeburg,  in  September,  1798.  The 
town  had  then  about  seven  hundred  inhabitants :  it  had  but 
one  thousand  and  four  by  the  census  of  1810  :  the  whole 
county  of  Oxford  in  1800  had  but  nine  thousand  nine  hund- 
red. The  town  was  granted  in  1702  to  General  Joseph 
Frye,  from  whom  it  takes  its  name,  and  was  occupied  the  same 
year  by  Osgoods,  Bradleys,  and  others,  principally  from  Con- 
cord, New  Hampshire. 

Mr.  Dana  was  the  son  of  John  Winchester  Dana  and  Han- 
nah Pope  Putnam,  a  daughter  of  General  Israel  Putnam, 
the  celebrated  Major  General  of  the  Revolution,  and  was 
born  at  Pomfret  in  Vermont,  April  25, 1772.  Judge  Dana's 
father  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  that  town.  He  grad- 
uated at  Dartmouth  College  in  1795,  having  among  his  class- 
mates Heman  Allen  of  Vermont  and  Judge  Nicholas  Em- 
ery of  this  State.  The  present  generation  may  be  pleased 
to  know  the  style  of  dress  which  graduates  wore  at  that  day. 
Judge  Dana  thus  described  his  own, — "  a  black  coat,  vest,  and 
small  clothes  with  large  silver  knec-bucklcs,  black  silk  stock- 
ings and  shoes,  with  silver  shoe-buckles  ;  black  silk  gloves, 
and  the  head  surmounted  with  a  black  three-sided  cocked 
hat.  The  hair  was  queued  down  the  back  almost  to  the 
hips  with  a  black  ribbon — hair  dressed  and  powdered  white 
as  snow."  Thus,  in  a  strange  masquerade,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  the  hat,  the  young  graduates  appeared  on  the  stage 
at  Commencement :  the  small  clothes  continued  sometime 
into  the  present  century  for  dress  garments. 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Dana  took  charge  of  Moore's 
Charity  school  at  Hanover,  and  at  the  same  time  entered 
the  office  of  Benjamin  I.  Gilbert  of  that  place,  a  sound  law- 


JUDAH    DANA.  257 

yer  and  good  classical  scholar,  who  was  known  by  the  sobri- 
quet of  Baron  Gilbert,  from  his  namesake,  the  distinguished 
Chief  Baron.  In  September,  1798,  having  completed  his 
studies,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Grafton  County  in 
New  Hampshire,  and  determining  to  settle  in  Maine,  he 
came  to  the  district  the  same  month,  and  was  admitted  to 
the  bar  in  Lincoln  County.  Thus  furnished  and  equipped, 
he  entered  upon  the  practice  in  the  town  which  for  nearly 
half  a  century  continued  to  be  his  place  of  residence.  The 
nearest  lawyer  to  him  in  Maine  was  at  Portland,  fifty  miles 
distant,  so  that  he  had  the  range  of  the  forest  and  the  plain, 
and  most  energetically  and  successfully  did  he  pursue  his 
game.  His  business  extended  into  New  Hampshire,  which 
Fryeburg  adjoined,  and  he  attended  the  courts  of  that  State 
held  at  Dover,  as  well  as  those  of  his  own  county  held  at 
York,  to  which  his  town  belonged  ; — to  reach  which  places  he 
pursued  his  long  and  solitary  way  on  horseback.  He  became 
a  leading  advocate,  and  as  he  was  a  careful  and  intelligent 
student,  he  acquired  a  high  reputation  at  the  bar  of  his  own 
county,  and  practiced  with  success  in  Cumberland,  where 
he  encountered  the  able  men  of  that  bar,  whose  names  have 
in  part  been  recorded. 

His  first  competitor,  wiio  settled  in  a  neighboring  town, 
was  his  classmate,  Nicholas  Emery,  at  Parsonsfield.  But 
there  soon  came  into  his  immediate  neighborhood  another, 
to  divide  the  same  loaf  which  was  hardly  enough  for  one  hun- 
gry practitioner  to  enjoy.  Jacob  McGaw  from  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  two  years  after  him  in  college,  opened  an  office 
along  side  of  him  in  1801,  and  a  vigorous  rivalship  took 
place,  which  certainly  did  not  diminish  the  business  nor  the 
excitement  in  the  efforts  of  the  young  and  ardent  aspirants 
for  legal  fame  and  an  honorable  support.  These  lawyers 
attended  the  courts  in  New  Hampshire,  at  York,  and  in  Cum- 
berland, and  they  had  rafeiiy  sharp  encounters  on  lesser  mat- 


258  JUDAH    DANA. 

ters  before  local  magistrates  at  home.  But  Mr.  McGaw  was 
not  satisfied  with  this  limited  field  of  labor,  and  left  it  in  two 
or  three  years  for  Bangor,  where  we  shall  have  the  pleasure 
of  another  meeting  with  him.  He  was  succeeded  by  Sam- 
uel A.  Bradley,  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  of  1799,  who  for 
a  long  series  of  years  was  a  competitor  in  law  and  politics 
with  Mr.  Dana. 

In  1805,  Oxford  County  was  established  from  territory  in 
the  northern  parts  of  York  and  Cumberland.  It  was  the 
seventh  county  in  the  State  in  the  order  of  its  organization, 
following  Kennebec,  which  was  established  in  1799.  Paris 
was  appointed  the  shire  town,  and  two  terms  a  year  of  the 
Common  Picas  and  Sessions  were  granted  to  it,  but  its  issues 
in  the  Supreme  Court  were  tried  in  Portland.  The  two  law- 
yers of  Fryeburg  found  places  in  the  Probate  Court,  —  Mr. 
Dana  as  Judge,  and  Mr,  Bradley  as  Register.  Judge  Dana 
also  received  the  appointment  of  County  Attorney,  which 
he  held  until  he  was  raised  to  the  bench  of  the  Common 
Pleas.  No  other  persons  in  any  of  the  offices  in  the  county 
were  lawyers. 

Judge  Dana  continued  to  practice  with  increased  success, 
both  ill  the  Common  Pleas  of  his  own  county,  and  in  the 
Supreme  Court  at  Portland,  and  he  was  engaged  on  one  side 
or  the  other  of  every  cause,  civil  or  criminal,  tried  in  Oxford 
from  June,  1805,  to  August,  1811.  It  is  said  that  he  main- 
tained himself  with  al)ility  in  his  conflicts  with  the  leaders 
of  the  Cumberland  bar,  Hopkins,  Longfellow,  Whitman,  and 
others,  until  1811,  when  he  was  appointed  Associate  Justice 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  first  eastern  circuit, 
under  the  reorganization  of  that  court  by  Governor  Gerry's 
administration.  Benjamin  Greene  of  South  Berwick  was 
Chief  Justice,  and  William  Widgery  of  Portland,  second  as- 
sociate. This  office  he  held  until  18^2,  when  the  government 
of  Maine  established  a  new  court  for  the  whole  State,  con- 


JUDAH    DANA.  259 

sisting  of  three  judges,  of  which  Chief  Justice  Whitman 
was  placed  at  the  head. 

Judge  Dana  was  a  well-read  lawyer,  of  a  judicious,  well- 
balanced,  and  discriminating  mind.  His  perceptions  were 
quick  and  ready,  and  he  discharged  the  duties  of  his  official 
stations  with  integrity,  urbanity,  and  sound  legal  intelligence. 
He  was  fond  of  his  office,  had  a  high  sense  of  the  obligations 
it  imposed,  and  labored  earnestly  and  devotedly  in  a  faith- 
ful discharge  of  its  duties.  From  these  he  returned  to  the 
bar  with  unabated  zeal,  and  entered  into  its  conflicts  with 
the  energy  of  his  early  life  tempered  by  the  calmness  of 
judgment  which  the  exercise  of  the  judicial  office  is  wont 
to  impart. 

In  1819,  he  was  a  member  of  the  State  Convention  which 
framed  the  Constitution  of  Maine,  and  was  one  of  the  Com- 
mittee to  prepare  that  instrument,  which  was  composed  of 
some  of  the  most  prominent  men  in  the  State.  He  took  an 
active  part  in  the  debates. 

He  was  appointed  to  several  political  offices.  In  1833,  he 
was  one  of  the  Executive  council  in  the  administration  of 
Governor  Smith  ;  in  183G  and  1837,  he  was  one  of  the  Bank 
Commissioners.  In  1836,  he  was  appointed  by  Governor 
Dunlap,  United  States  Senator  for  the  remainder  of  Judge 
Shepley's  term,  who  resigned  that  office  on  being  appointed 
a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court ;  his  colleague  was  John  Rug- 
gles.  While  a  Senator,  he  engaged  in  tbc  debates  of  that 
body,  one  of  the  most  exciting  of  which  was  that  on  the  res- 
olution of  Mr.  Benton  to  expunge  from  the  record  the  cen- 
sure on  Gen.  Jackson. 

I  am  indebted  to  an  intimate  friend  of  Judge  Dana  for 
the  following  estimate  of  his  character  and  powers :  "  He 
was  a  ready  speaker,  urbane  and  conciliating,  but  of  un- 
questioned firmness.  In  all  imblic  positions,  he  was  time 
and  faithful,  and  fully  equal  to  the  demand  upon  him.     In 


260       JDDAH    DANA  :    HIS   STUDENTS  :    DANIEL   WEBSTER. 

private  life,  no  gentleman  could  be  more  genial.  Time  and 
chance  were  never  wanting  with  him  to  say  and  do  kind 
things  to  every  one  within  his  circle.  In  a  large  sphere  of 
professional  life,  Judge  Dana  could  have  acquired  a  more 
brilliant  reputation,  but  he  loved  the  country  and  its  retire- 
ment, and  there  chose  to  act  his  part,  keeping  fresh,  how- 
ever, in  the  world's  history,  living  and  past."  He  labored 
effectually  to  promote  the  educational  interests  of  his 
adopted  town,  and  contributed  to  other  improvements  to 
make  it  a  desirable  place  of  residence.  He  was  one  of  the 
Trustees  of  Bowdoin  College  from  1820  to  1843. 

Such  was  the  genial  character  and  reputation  of  Judge 
Dana  that  his  office  became  the  resort  of  many  young  men 
who  were  pursuing  the  study  of  law.  Among  these  were 
Daniel  "Webster,  for  a  short  period  ;  General  Samuel  Fessen- 
den  ;  Peter  C.  Virgin  of  Runiford  ;  Gen.  Eleazer  Wheelock 
Ripley  ;  Joseph  Howard  ;  Philip  Eastman  of  Saco  ;  Henry 
B.  Osgood,  and  several  others. 

Mr.  Webster  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1801, 
and  afterwards  had  charge  of  the  academy  at  Fryeburg  ; 
during  this  time  he  had  his  name  in  Judge  Dana's  office. 
A  letter  from  him  to  his  teacher,  which  we  are  permitted  to 
use,  will  give  us  a  little  insight  into  his  pursuits  while  there. 
"  Boston,  December  29th,  1804, — Dear  Sir, — Circumstances 
exist  which  render  it  desirable  to  me  to  be  able  to  show  that 
during  the  eight  months  in  which  I  instructed  in  the  Frye- 
burg Academy,  I  considered  myself  destined  for  the  profes- 
sion of  the  law,  and  had  access  to  the  librari/  of  a  practi- 
tioner. If  you  can,  salro  honore,  say  this  of  me,  it  would 
gratify  me  that  you  should.  A  '  student  at  law'  I  certainly 
was  not,  unless  '  Allen  Ramsey's  Poems'  and  '  Female  Quix- 
otism '  will  pass  for  law  books.  Besides,  I  should  not  ex- 
pecj;  a  man  of  your  habits  to  certify  nie  to  have  been  a 
student  at  anything-  during  the  time  which  I  loitered  away 


JUDAH    DANA.  261 

in  your  country,  perusing  rather  my  male  and  female  friends 
than  my  books.  To  be  serious,  however,  you  would  really 
oblige  mc  by  writing  me  a  line,  and  stating  in  it,  if  you  can, 
that  while  I  was  in  the  academy  six  hours  in  the  day,  you 
understood  me  to  have  made  choice  of  the  law  as  a  profes- 
sion, and  that  I  had  access  to  your  library.  I  w^ll  imme- 
diately excuse  you  if  there  is  anything  in  this  request  incom- 
patible with  propriety." 

Judge  Dana  replied,  saying  :  "  The  precise  time  of  your 
residence  in  Fryeburg,  as  preceptor  of  the  Academy,  I  can- 
not now  ascertain,  but  I  think  you  came  in  November  or 
December,  1801,  and  returned  the  September  following,  so 
as  to  make  up  the  term  of  your  eight  months.  On  your  ar- 
rival, you  informed  me  you  intended,  as  you  had  commenced, 
to  pursue  the  study  of  the  law,  and  wished  for  the  privilege 
of  using  my  books,  and  during  said  term  you  had  access  to 
my  library." 

Judge  Dana  was  twice  married ;  his  first  wife,  and  the 
mother  of  all  liis  children,  was  Elizabeth,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  Professor  Sylvanus  Ripley  of  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege, and  grand-daughter  of  the  first  President  Wheelock  of 
the  same  college.  Generals  Eleazer  W.  and  James  "W, 
Ripley  were  her  brothers.  His  second  wife  was  the  widow 
of  General  John  McMillan  of  Fryeburg.  His  only  son  who 
survived  infancy,  is  the  Hon.  John  W.  Dana,  former  Gover- 
nor of  Maine,  and  late  Minister  to  Bolivia.  Of  his  several 
daughters,  one  married  Judge  Howard  of  Portland,  another 
is  the  widow  of  the  late  Henry  B.  Osgood,  and  now  the  wife 
of  Judge  Goodcnow  of  Alfred. 

He  died  in  December,  1845,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three, 
with  a  consciousness  of  having  endeavored  to  discharge  the 
duties  of  life,  and  with  a  firm  religious  trust ;  leaving  a 
handsome  estate,  the  fruit  of  his  labor,  his  care,  and  judi- 
cious management. 


262  NICHOLAS   EMERY. 

NICHOLAS     EBIERY.      1798  —  1861. 

Nicholas  Emery,  the  classmate  of  Judge  Dana,  opened 
his  ollioc  in  Parsousfield  at  the  same  time  his  friend  estab- 
lished himself  in  Fryeburg, —  the  autumn  of  1708.  Parsons- 
field  lies  in  the  northwest  corner  of  the  county  of  York,  and 
on  the  boundary  of  New  Hampshire,  west,  and  Oxford,  north. 
This  is  a  large  and  unbroken  township  of  land,  and  contained, 
when  Mr.  Emery  commenced  practice  there,  about  twelve 
hundred  inhabitants  ;  it  was  a  flourishing  and  growing  town, 
and  that  part  of  the  county  being  destitute  of  any  member 
of  the  profession,  afforded  much  encouragement  to  a  young 
practitioner.  Mr.  Dana  was  the  only  lawyer  in  that  part  of 
the  State  north  of  him,  and  the  only  ones  on  the  south  in 
the  county  were  at  Biddeford,  Berwick,  Kennebunk,  and 
Saco, — the  whole  number  not  exceeding  six  or  eight :  Mr. 
Dana,  who  was  his  next  neighbor,  was  not  nearer  than 
twenty  miles,  the  others  thirty  miles  at  least.  This  range 
might  be  considered  sufficiently  large  to  give  ample  employ- 
ment to  one  lawyer. 

Mr.  Emery  was  born  in  Exeter,  New  Hampshire,  Septem- 
ber 4,  1776.  His  first  American  ancestor  was  Anthony 
Emery  of  Romsey,  England,  a  carpenter,  who  came  over, 
with  his  brother  John,  in  the  James  of  London,  in  the  spring 
of  1635,  arriving  in  Boston  in  June.  John  settled  in  New- 
bury, Anthony  in  Kittery.  The  descent  is  through  Daniel 
Emery  of  Kittery,  whose  will  on  York  records  bears  date 
November  8,  1722.  Daniel  had  four  sons,  three  of  whom 
he  named  from  the  Patriarch  of  the  Deluge  and  his  two 
sons, — Noah,  Shem,  Japhct:  he  wisely  substituted  the  name 
of  a  beloved  apostle  for  that  of  the  despised  Ham.  Noah, 
the  eldest,  married  Joanna,  a  daughter  of  Nicholas  Perry- 
man,  a  lawyer  of  Exeter,  and  of  his  wife,  Joanna  Dudley, 
a  descendant  of  Governor  Thomas  Dudley  of  Massachusetts. 


NICHOLAS   EMERY.  263 

These  were  the  grand-parents  of  the  subject  of  our  notice  ; 
his  fatlier,  Noah,  tiicir  second  son,  married  Jane  Hale,  by 
whom  he  had  six  children,  all  of  whom  are  dead  but  John 
and  Jane,  now  residing  in  Exeter.  Their  father,  Noah,  was 
many  years  clerk  of  the  judicial  courts  for  the  County  of 
Rockingham.  Their  father's  sister,  Margaret,  a  woman  of 
remarkable  powers  of  mind  and  an  ever-ready  flow  of  wit, 
is  still  living  at  Exeter,  in  her  ninety-first  year,  having  been 
born  i^i  October,  1772.  Nicholas  was  the  third  child.  He 
entered  the  far-famed  academy  at  Exeter,  at  the  age  of 
twelve  years,  in  1788,  the  same  year  that  the  renowned  and 
beloved  Benjamin  Abbott  commenced  his  course  of  instruc- 
tion in  that  seminary  ;  whiclf  continued  with  eminent  success 
through  a  period  of  fifty  years.  His  long  term  of  service 
closed  with  ajnbilee  which  brought  together  a  large  number 
of  his  surviving  pupils,  to  bear  honorable  testimony  of  their 
affection  for  their  venerated  instructor.  After  a  diligent 
pursuit  of  his  preliminary  studies,  Mr.  Emery  entered  Dart- 
mouth, from  which  he  took  his  degree  with  the  honors  of  the 
college,  among  able  competitors,  in  1795,  at  the  age  of  nine- 
teen :  he  appeared  on  Commencement  day  in  the  same  style 
of  dress  which  wc  have  described  in  the  sketch  of  his  class- 
mate, Judge  Dana. 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Emery,  having  decided  upon  the 
law  as  the  occupation  of  his  life,  determined  to  seek  the  best 
advantages  wiiich  his  State  afforded  for  instruction.  He 
therefore  wisely  placed  himself  under  the  tuition  of  Edward 
St.  Loe  Liverraore  of  Portsmouth,  son  of  Chief  Justice  Sam- 
uel Livermore,  an  accomplished  lawyer.  Mr.  Livermore 
was  afterwards  a  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  Hamp- 
shire, and  united  to  extensive  knowledge  of  his  profession, 
large  general  information,  and  a  most  happy  faculty  of  inter- 
esting his  students  in  their  studies,  and  leading  them  to 
elevated  principles  in  the  administration  and  practice  of  law. 


264  NICHOLAS   EMERY. 

Mr.  Emory  always  acknowledged  his  obligations  to  Judge 
Livermore  for  his  kind  guidance  through  the  mazes  by  which 
the  grand  edifice  of  jurisprudence  is  reached,  and  the  ge- 
nial and  urbane  spirit  which  he  manifested  toward  him.  Af- 
ter two  years'  study  in  Judge  Livermore's  office,  he  became 
for  a  year  in  1797,  an  assistant  instructor  in  Exeter 
Academy. 

On  completing  his  studies,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
tlie  autumn  of  1798,  and  immediately  proceeded  to  Par^ns- 
field  and  entered  upon  the  practice.  The  name  of  Emery 
was  traditional  at  the  bar  of  York.  Noah  Emery,  one  of 
his  family,  was  the  earliest  resident  lawyer  in  the  State,  hav- 
ing commenced  practice  about  1725,  and  continued  near 
forty  years  almost  the  only  lawyer  in  the  State,  enjoying  a 
large  practice.  In  1750,  Caleb  Emery,  another  member  of 
the  same  family,  came  into  the  bar,  and  continued  through 
the  Revolution  alone  in  the  county,  after  Judge  David  Sew- 
all  was  raised  to  the  bench.  A  John  Emery  was  also  a  prac- 
titioner at  that  bar,  commencing  prior  to  the  Revolution. 
This  new  comer,  therefore,  of  the  same  name,  had  a  sort  of 
prescriptive  right  to  a  respectable  practice  on  the  old  field 
which  had  for  so  many  years  been  trodden  and  cultivated  by 
his  race. 

His  accomplishments  as  a  lawyer,  and  his  easy,  pleasant 
manners,  soon  brought  him  into  notice.  Numerous  and 
profitable  engagements  extended  his  practice  from  his  own 
county  into  the  adjoining  county  of  Strafford  in  New  Hamp- 
shire. After  seven  or  eight  years'  successful  practice  in  this 
section  of  the  country,  which  required  much  labor  and  long 
travel,  and  being  about  to  form  a  matrimonial  connection 
with  a  most  admirable  woman,  used  to  all  the  refinements 
of  life,  he  determined  to  seek  a  more  eligible  position.  In 
the  spring  of  1807,  he,  therefore,  moved  to  Portland;  and 
in  the  autumn  of  the  same  year,  ho  married  Ann  T.,  the 


NICHOLAS   EMERY.  265 

eldest  daughter  of  the  worthy  and  honored  Governor  Gihuaii 
of  New  Hampshire,  a  lady  admirably  qualified  to  give  dig- 
nity, grace,  and  happiness  to  the  domestic  circle. 

Mr.  Emery  now  entered  upon  a  course  of  uninterrupted 
success.  The  business  of  the  courts  in  Cuml^erland  County 
was  never  greater  than  in  tlie  year  he  came  to  Portland  ; 
the  number  of  entries  on  the  docket  of  the  Common  Pleas 
was  two  thousand  four  hundred  and  twenty-two  :  it  was  the 
year  of  numerous  failures,  and  the  laws  for  the  collection  ef 
debts  were  harsh,  giving  creditors  the  power  to  seize  upon 
the  property  without  exemption,  as  well  as  the  person  of  the 
debtor.  In  repeated  cases,  the  household  furniture  of  re- 
spectable but  unfortunate  merchants,  who  had  done  large 
business  and  handled  heavy  masses  of  property,  was  sold 
under  the  hammer  by  relentless  creditors,  not  sparing,  in 
some  instances,  the  beds  on  which  the  care-worn  and  de- 
pressed family  sought  repose.  Attachments  were  numerous 
under  this  system,  and  some  of  the  principal  lawyers  made 
more  than  one  hundred  entries  a  term. 

A  favorable  opening  into  this  ample  field  was  made  for  Mr. 
Emery  by  the  death  of  two  of  the  most  prominent  lawyers ; — 
Salmon  Chase  died  in  August,  1806 ;  he  had  the  largest 
practice  of  any  attorney  in  the  State  :  William  Symmes 
died  in  "January,  1807;  and  the  accomplished  and  successful 
Parker,  having  l)een  appointed  to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  had  moved  to  Boston.  There  were  left  twenty-nine 
lawyers  in  the  county,  of  whom  thirteen  were  in  Portland  : 
among  them  were  the  able  and  eloquent  Mellen,  recently 
moved  from  Biddeford  ;  the  sagacious  Whitman  ;  the  keen 
and  logical  Orr  ;  Longfellow,  Hopkins,  and  the  young  but 
promising  Greenleaf,  all  skillful  and  ingenious  in  the  pro- 
fession. Into  competition  with  such  men,  did  Mr.  Emery 
enter,  to  wage  forensic  battle  :  ably  and  manfully  did  he 
sustain  liimself  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century,  en- 

18 


266  NICHOLAS   EMERY. 

gaged  ill  the  best  cases,  and  acquiring  reputation  and  prop- 
erty. 

In  1834,  Cliief  Justice  Mellen  having  retired  from  the 
bench  of  the  Supreme  Court,  Judge  Weston  was  promoted 
to  his  place,  and  Mr.  Emery,  with  the  general  assent,  was 
appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy  ;  the  court  then  consisting  of 
Chief  Justice  Weston,  Judge  Parris,  and  himself.  He  faith- 
fully and  promptly  discharged  the  duties  of  this  official 
station  during  the  constitutional  term  of  seven  years.  A 
cotemporary  and  friend,  the  Hon.  Mr.  ]\IcGa\v  of  Bangor, 
who  still  lives  at  an  advanced  age,  thus  speaks  of  him  as  a 
judge,  "  With  honorable  fidelity  and  capability  he  discharged 
its  high  functions  through  the  constitutional  term  of  seven 
years."  "  Since  closing  the  duties  of  his  eminent  judicial 
station,  Judge  Emery  has  not  participated  in  tlie  honorable 
strife  that  gentlemen  feel  who  are  contending  for  pre-emi- 
nence as  advocates  at  the  bar."  Tiie  opinions  of  the  court, 
as  drawn  and  delivered  by  Judge  Emery  during  the  time*  he 
occupied  a  seat  upon  the  bench,  are  recorded  in  the  eight 
volumes  of  the  Maine  Reports  from  the  twelfth  to  the  nine- 
teenth, inclusive.  They  show  careful  and  diligent  research, 
and  just  conclusions.  An  able  opinion  drawn  by  him  on 
the  question  of  excluding  a  witness  for  want  of  belief  in  a 
Supreme  Being,  was  published  in  the  Law  Reporter  of  No- 
vember, 1841,  Vol.  4,  p.  208.  In  this  case  it  was  decided 
that,  by  the  statute  of  Maine,  a  belief  in  the  Supreme  Being 
is  a  pre-requisite  to  the  admission  of  a  witness  to  testify  ;  but, 
he  says,  the  court  will  require  a  clear,  open,  and  deliberate 
avowal  of  disbelief  before  rejecting  a  witness.  The  judge 
reviewed  numerous  decisions  in  this  country  and  England 
on  the  subject. 

Judge  Emory  was  devoted  to  his  profession,  and  was 
thoroughly  read  in  the  law,  in  which  he  kept  himself  fresh 
amidst  the  ever-varying  changes  which  the  progress  of  soci- 


NICHOLAS    EMERY.  207 

ety  rendered  necessary  in  the  rules  of  jurisprudence  and 
tlie  modes  of  administration.  He  had  seen  spec-ial  pleading, 
in  which  he  took  i)lcasure,  gradually  giving  way  hefore  the 
cogent  demands  of  the  people  for  more  plainness  and  sim- 
plicity in  the  forms  of  proceeding.  He  accommodated  him- 
self to  these  changes,  and  though  cautious  of  innovation, 
he  did  not  qjcct  a  measure  hecause  it  was  new.  But  caution 
was  the  tendency  of  his  mind,  and  he  was  slow  and  reserved 
hoth  in  forming  and  giving  an  opinion  ;  he  desired  to  look  at 
a  question  on  all  its  sides,  and  it  may  be  said  of  him,  as  of 
the  great  Chancellor,  Eldon,  that,  after  the  widest  examina- 
tion and  the  most  careful  reflection,  he  still  douljted.  A 
cotemporary  of  his  early  life,  in  speaking  of  Judge  Emery 
at  that  period,  said,  "  He  was  eloquent  and  ingenious  as  an 
advocate,  and  made  an  impression  on  tlie  jury  and  the  bench, 
l)ut  after  a  severe  sickness  which  he  had,  his  powers  seemed 
to  be  less  acute  and  vigorous." 

Judge  Emery  seldom  took  part  in  political  affairs,  but 
was  occasionally  drawn  into  them  from  his  more  quiet  and 
congenial  pursuits.  In  18l(),  he  was  a  member  of  the  Bruns- 
wick Convention  on  the  question  of  separation  ;  and  in  1819, 
he  was  again  chosen  a  delegate  from  Portland  to  the  con- 
vention [wliicli  formed  the  present  Constitution  of  Maine. 
He  engaged  in  the  debates  on  important  questions.  On  the 
new  government's  going  into  effect,  he  was  one  of  the  three 
representatives  chosen  from  Portland,  his  colleagues  for  this 
and  the  following  year  being  Asa  Clapp  and  Simon  Green- 
leaf.  Tiiese  were  the  most  important  years  in  the  annals  of 
the  State,  for  the  government  had  to  be  organized,  and  the 
laws  adapted  to  the  new  relations  in  which  the  people  were 
placed.  The  whole  body  of  the  statute  law  in  force  in  the 
State  was  arranged  and  digested  by  a  board  of  jurisprudence, 
consisting  of  Judges  McUcn,  Preble,  and  Weston,  who  made 
their  rc})ort  at  the  session  of  the  Legislature  in  1821,  which 


268  NICHOLAS    EMERY. 

was  revised,  amended,  and  adopted  by  that  Legislature.  His 
services,  in  conjunction  with  tliosc  of  Judge  Potter  of  Port- 
land in  the  Senate,  and  Simon  Greenleaf  in  the  House,  were 
of  great  value  in  the  preparation  of  this  important  cominla- 
tion.  He  was  an  active  and  useful  member  in  these  initia- 
tory sessions.  In  1882,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  com- 
missioners of  Maine  with  Judge  Preble  and  Reuel  Williams, 
to  negotiate  watli  the  government  of  the  United  States,  for  a 
cession  of  the  disputed  territory,  under  the  treaty  of  1783  ; 
and  signed  an  agreement  for  an  arrangement  of  the  contro- 
versy on  the  basis  of  receiving  compensation  in  land  for  the 
territory  yielded  up.  His  public  life  closed  with  the  term- 
ination of  his  judicial  ofilice. 

In  his  domestic  life,  Mr.  Emery  was  no  less  fortunate  than 
in  the  outward  relations  in  which  he  appeared  and  acted 
before  his  fellow-men.  The  amiable,  wise,  and  judicious 
woman  with  whom  he  lived  near  forty  years,  was  of  the  gen- 
uine type  of  womanhood.  Of  a  pure  blood,  coming  down 
through  ancestors  among  the  most  distinguished  in  her  na- 
tive State,  she  proved  and  maintained  its  title  to  distinction  : 
she  inherited  the  virtues  and  fine  qualities  of  the  stock  from 
which  she  descended,  and  left  it  when  she  died,  as  living  she 
had  borne  it,  unsullied.  Her  death,  which  took  place  in 
1848,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight,  was  an  irremediable  loss  to  her 
surviving  companion,  who  felt  the  shock  through  his  own 
remaining  years.  The  latter  portion  of  Judge  Emery's  life 
was  passed  in  an  almost  unconscious  state;  and  liis  shattered 
frame  yielded  at  last  to  the  gradual  decay  of  time,  on  the 
24th  of  August,  18G1,  in  the  eighty-fifth  year  of  his  age. 
Of  his  six  children,  one  son  and  two  daughters  only  survive. 

Margaret,  the  sister  of  Judge  Emery's  father,  who  is  men- 
tioned in  the  former  part  of  this  article  as  living,  has  died 
before  this  sheet  comes  from  the  press,  October,  18G2,  in  the 
ninety-first  year  of  her  age. 


NICHOLAS   EMERY  :     THOMAS    BOWMAN.  269 

Judge  Emery,  when  he  died,  was  the  oldest  but  one  of 
the  Cumberland  Bar ;  the  oldest,  Chief  Justice  Whitman, 
still  lives,  having  entered  upon  his  eighty-seventh  year,  in 
his  native  town,  East  Bridgewater,  Massachusetts.  Both, 
at  the  bar  and  on  the  bench,  were  honored,  and  in  private 
life  respected  and  trusted.  They  were  connecting  links  be- 
tween tlie  present  and  the  future,  having  passed  through  the 
whole  period  of  our  existence  as  a  nation,  thus  far,  and  wit- 
nessed tlie  wonderful  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  the 
ever  increasing  volume  of  our  imperial  greatness. 

THOMAS    BOWMAN.      17  U  7  —  1800. 

About  the  time  that  Judges  Dana  and  Emery  commenced 
practice  in  York  County,  three  young  candidates  for  the 
honors  and  profits  of  the  profession  commenced  their  course 
in  Kennebec  County,  —  Thomas  Bowman,  Nathan  Bridge, 
and  Samuel  P.  Glidden.  Bowman  was  the  youngest  son  of 
Judge  Jonathan  Bowman  of  Dresden,  who,  for  many  years,  ^ 
was  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  Lincoln,  and 
afterward  judge  of  the  court,  and  Judge  of  Probate  at  the 
same  time,  while  his  son,  Jonathan,  Jr.,  was  clerk  of  one 
court  and  register  of  the  other.  And  it  so  happened  that 
Tliomas,  the  subject  of  this  notice,  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
in  the  class  of  1704,  also  became  the  first  Register  of  Pro- 
bate in  the  County  of  Kennebec,  which  was  organized  in 
1799.  lie  was  born  in  Dresden,  May  20,  1774,  studied  his 
profession  witli  James  Bridge  at  Augusta,  and  was  admitted 
to  practice  in  1797.  His  practice  was  inconsiderable,  and 
having  afterward  the  office  of  Register  of  Probate,  which 
furnished  him  a  pleasant  occupation ;  and  having  married  a 
daughter  of  Samuel  Howard,  one  of  the  oldest  and  most 
respected  families  of  Augusta,  by  whom,  and  with  the  con- 
siderable patrimony  he  inherited  from  his  father,  he  was 


270  THOMAS   IJOWMAN:    NATHAN    BRIDGE. 

made  independent,  he  became  careless  of  tlic  emoluments 
of  the  profe^^sion,  Williout  such  stimulant,  wo  cannot  expect 
much  clfort  through  the  dark  and  tedious  mazes  of  the  law 
to  the  higher  rewards  it  has  to  offer  to  its  votaries ;  and 
only  to  the  patient,  persistent,  toilsome  laborer  and  devotee, 
will  she  vouchsafe  her  noble  muniments  and  honors.  Mr. 
Bowman  was  placed  above  the  necessity  for  exertion,  and 
although  of  fine  parts,  and  of  remarkal>ly  attractive  personal 
ap])carance  and  address,  he  willingly  let  go  the  pri/X's  which 
he  might  have  gracefully  worn.  Wilde  and  Allen,  Bond 
and  Rice  and  Boutelle,  won  the  fame  and  the  rewards  with 
which  a  faithful,  worthy,  and  devoted  service  to  the  law 
seldom  fails  to  crown  the  victor  in  this  honorable  pursuit. 

He  lived  and  died  in  the  old  Fort  Weston  at  Augusta, 
which  had  a  traditional  name,  as  being  a  frontier  post  many 
years:  it  had  for  a  while  the  only  jAastcrod  room  in  the 
town,  and  was  the  oflice  of  AVilliam  Litligow,  Jr.,  the  dis- 
tinguished predecessor  of  Bowman  in  the  practice.  He  died 
June  3,  1837.  He  had  five  children  by  his  wife,  whom  he 
married  November  3,  1799.  His  daughter  Mary  married 
Llewellyn  W.  Lithgow  of  Augusta,  May  25, 1825  ;  and  Sarah 
married  first,  November  12,  1833,  Dr.  Sherman,  a  physician 
of  Dresden,  and  after  his  death  in  1847,  Edward  T.  Baker 
of  Dorchester,  Massachusetts.  Mr.  Lithgow  was  a  grandson 
of  the  celebrated  John  Gardiner  of  Pownalboro',  barrister 
at  law,  by  his  daughter  Ann.  liis  father  was  James  Lith- 
gow, son  of  Judge  William  Lithgow.  He  has  no  children. 
Mrs.  Baker  has  children. 

A  genealogical  account  of  the  Bowmans  is  given  in  my 
sketch  of  Jonathan  Bowman,  the  father  of  Tiiomas,  which 
will  appear  in  subsequent  pages. 

NATHAN     iniID(;E.       1  7  !l8— 1  S'Jf). 

Nathan  Bridge  was  a  younger  son  of  Sherilf  Edmund 
Bridge,  and  born  in  Dresden,  September  25,  1775.      After 


NATHAN   BRIDGE.  271 

pursuing  the  usual  rudimentary  studies,  not  having  received 
a  Uberal  education,  he  entered  the  office  of  his  brother 
James,  in  Augusta.  Having  been  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
1798,  he  estabhshed  himself  in  that  part  of  Pittston  which 
lies  upon  the  western  side  of  Kennebec  River,  and  is  now 
Gardiner,  the  division  of  the  town  having  taken  place  in 
February,  1803.  He  was  the  first  lawyer  in  the  town,  and 
the  only  one  between  Hallo  well  and  Bath.  The  whole  town 
on  both  sides  of  the  river  contained  a  population  of  about 
one  thousand  two  hundred  in  nearly  equal  proportions.  By 
the  census  of  1810,  Pittston  had  one  thousand  and  eighteen 
inhabitants,  and  Gardiner  one  thousand  and  twenty-nine. 
Being  the  only  lawyer  for  this  extensive  territory,  he  had  a 
large  business  for  several  years,  principally  in  matters  con- 
cerning real  estate,  acting  as  the  agent  of  absent  proprietors 
of  large  tracts  of  land.  "  Mr.  Bridge  was  highly  instru- 
mental in  bringing  to  a  successful  conclusion  many  contests 
and  controversies  in  which  the  value  of  his  personal  and 
local  knowledge  was  very  apparent,  and  was  conspicuously 
displayed." 

He  kept  his  office  in  the  second  story  of  an  old  building 
erected  by  Dr.  Gardiner  of  Boston  before  the  Revolution, 
which  is  thus  humorously  described  by  an  olc^  resident. 
It  was  "  the  exact  counterpart  of  the  old  Pownalboro'  court 
house  in  Dresden,  still  standing  on  the  bank  of  Kennebec 
River :  the  rest  of  the  upper  stories  was  used  for  dwellings, 
and  the  lower  portion  for  pigs  and  wood,  tlic  Ijoards  and 
clapboards  of  this  portion  having  been  taken  olT  and  used 
for  fire-wood.  You  would  not  expect  a  learned  lawyer  in 
full  robes  from  such  a  receptacle." 

Mr.  Bridge  never  had  much  fancy  for  his  profession,  and 
therefore  did  not  take  sufficient  pride  in  it  to  seek  its  higher 
rewards.  He  was  not  very  able  as  a  lawyer,  not  being 
grounded  in  a  sound  preliminary  education,  and  he  was  no 


272  NATHAN   BRIDGE:    WILLIAM  WIDGERY. 

advocate.  In  1808,  he  invited  Frederic  Allen,  wlio  was  then 
settled  at  Warren,  to  become  his  partner,  and  on  his  accept- 
ing the  situation  and  becoming  familiar  with  the  business, 
Mr.  Bridge  retired.  In  1810,  he  engaged  in  land  specula- 
tions, and  subsequently,  about  1815,  moved  to  Wilmington, 
North  Carolina,  where  his  brotlier  Edmund  was  successfully 
engaged  in  mercantile  business.  H6  returned  in  a  few 
years,  on  the  death  of  his  brother,  with  improved  means, 
purchased  a  small  farm,  on  which  he  erected  a  neat  cottage, 
about  a  mile  from  the  river,  where  he  resided  in  a  quiet, 
unostentatious  manner,  until  the  close  of  his  life,  which 
took  i)lace  in  1827,  September  15,  at  the  age  of  fifty-two. 
Mr.  Bridge  was  a  man,  as  Mr.  Allen  says,  "  of  much  kind- 
ness and  active  benevolence.  He  was  strictly  honest  in  all 
his  transactions,  and  was  emphatically  the  poor  man's  friend. 
His  conduct  and  deportment  were  ever  marked  Avith  a  high 
sense  of  honor  in  all  his  business,  as  well  as  social  relations." 
He  never  was  married. 

WILLIAM    WIDGERY.       1788  —  17  98. 

On  the  list  of  lawyers  which  I  have  annexed  to  these 
sketches,  IJiave  put  down  the  name  of  William  Widgery, 
who  was  no  lawyer,  and  yet  had  a  considerable  practice  in 
New  Gloucester,  where  he  lived  many  years.  His  name  is 
also  contained  in  a  manuscri{)t  list  of  lawyers  prepared  by 
William  D.  Williamson.  '  This  eccentric  man  came  to  this 
country,  in  his  boyhood,  from  England,  before  the  Revolu- 
tion, poor,  friendless,  and  uneducated.  We  find  him  serving 
on  board  a  privateer  as  lieutenant,  in  the  Revolutionary 
War.  During  the  war,  he  settled  in  New  (xloucester,  where 
lie  married  ;  and  by  the  natural  force  of  his  mind,  and  the 
energy  of  his  character,  sin)plicd  the  deficiencies  of  his 
early  life,  and  rose  to  places  of  distinction  and  wealth.     He 


WILLIAM   WIDGERY.  273 

was  chosen  the  representative  of  New  Gloucester  to  the 
General  Court,  in  1787,  and  held  the  office  by  repeated 
elections  eight  or  nine  years.     In  1788,  he  was  elected  a 
delegate  to  the  convention  of  Massachusetts  which  adopted 
the   Constitution   of  the   United   States,   and   strenuously 
opposed  the  adoption,  frequently  speaking  on  the  sul)jects 
under  discussion.     In  1794,  he  was  a  senator  in  the  Legis- 
lature of  Massachusetts  from  Cumberland,  and  many  years 
*a  Justice  of  the  Peace.      It  was  in  the  exercise  of  the 
latter  office,  that  he  acquired  some  knowledge  of  the  forms 
of  legal  business,  and  undertook    to  practice  law  in  the 
courts,  before  any  regular  lawyer  was  settled  in  New  Glou- 
cester.    His  good  common  sense  guided  him  in  his  practice. 
In  technical  law  and  legal  principles  and  decisions,  he  was 
without  any  knowledge  or  skill.     In  1701,  being  a  member 
of  the  Legislature,  he  procured  a  term   of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  to  be  held  in  New  Gloucester,  in  January 
of  each  year,  which  continued  until  1805.     He  quitted  prac- 
tice near  the  close  of  the  last  century,  and  moved  to  Port- 
land ;  where  his  energies  found  more  ample  scope  in  com- 
mercial business,  which  he   carried   on  largely   and  with 
success. 

In  1810,  he  was  chosen  a  representative  to  Congress  from 
the  Cumberland  District,  and  supported  earnestly  the 
measures  of  Mr.  Madison's  administration.  He  voted  for 
the  war  against  the  strong  wishes  and  interests  of  his  con- 
stituents, which  rendered  him  very  unpopuhir ;  and  liis 
return  home  from  that  session  was  greeted  with  loud  mani- 
festations of  disapj)robation.  His  place  was  supplied  in  the 
next  Congress  by  CJeorgc  Bradbury. 

In  1812,  he  was  appointed  an  associate  justice  of  the 
new  Court  of  Common  Pleas  by  Governor  Gerry,  and  held 
the  ofiice  until  1822,  when  the  court  was  abolished.  He 
died  the  same  year. 


274  WILLIAM   WIDGERY. 

He  was  twice  married  ;  his  first  wife  was  Miss  Randall, 
by  whom  ho  had  all  his  children.  His  daughter  Elizabeth, 
born  in  New  Gloucester  in  1779,  married  Elias  Thomas  of 
Portland,  and  died  in  18G1,  leaving  a  large  family.  His 
eldest  son,  William,  was  drowned  in  the  Hudson  River,  in 
1805.  His  second  wife  was  the  Widow  Datlbrne  of  lioston. 
At  the  time  of  her  marriage,  she  had  a  daughter,  Eliza, 
wiio  became  the  wife  of  Nathan  Kinsman,  a  successful  law- 
yer in  Portland,  and  the  mother  of  John  Daffbrne  Kinsman,* 
who  succeeded  his  father  in  the  same  profession  in  the  same 
place.     These  persons  are  all  dead. 

Mr.  Widgcry  is  a  striking  example  of  what  may  be  done 
by  perseverance,  untiring  energy,  and  self-confidence. 
Without  any  intellectual  cultivation,  or  any  knowledge, 
except  that  acquired  by  experience,  he  placed  himself  along 
side  of  practical  statesmen  and  learned  jurists ;  and  had 
his  say,  whatever  it  may  have  been,  in  the  halls  of  legisla- 
tion, and  in  courts  of  justice.  His  manners  were  rough, 
his  language  unrefined  and  ungrammatical,  and  his  expres- 
sions confused.  Yet  he  made  his  way  through  all  these 
difficulties  and  embarrassments,  never  daunted,  never 
abashed  ;  and  always  hopeful,  cheerful  and  jubilant.  And, 
having  enjoyed  the  distinctions  of  society,  he  died  at  a  good 
old  age,  leaving  a  large  estate,  the  fruit  of  industry  and 
good  management. 


CHAPTER    XV 


JOHN  HOLMES — EZEKIEL  WHITMAN — LEONARD  MORSE — JOSIAH 
W.  MITCHELL — JOHN  P.  LITTLE  —  BOH  AN  P.  FIELD — ANDREW 
GREENWOOD — DANIEL  P.  UPTON — TEMPLE  HOVEY — HENRY  V. 

CHAMBERLAIN EBENEZER    BRADISH SAMUEL    DAGGETT 

NUMBER  OP  LAWYERS  :    THEIR  INCREASE,  AND  COURSE  OF  PRO- 
CEEDINGS IN  COURT — LAWYERS  IN  PRACTICE  IN  1800, 


JOHN     HOLMES.      1799  —  1843. 

In  1799,  two  lawyers  came  into  the  State  who  were  des- 
tined for  many  years  to  exercise  a  large  inflnencc  in  the 
civil  as  well  as  legal  interests  of  this  commilnity.  These 
were  Ezekiel  Whitman  and  John  Holmes.  They  both  orig- 
inated in  the  Old  Colony,  Mr.  Holmes  in  Kingston,  and  Mr. 
Whitman  in  EastBridgcwater  ;  and  they  both  were  edncated 
at  Brown  University,  from  which  one  gradnated  in  1795, 
the  other  in  1796.  I  propose  to  speak  of  these  two  prom- 
inent men  somewhat  at  length,  and  for  ^fr.  Holmes  I  shall 
borrow  largely  from  a  l)iogra})hical  notice  which  I  contrib- 
uted, soon  after  his  death,  in  184-),  to  the  Law  Keporter, 
Vol.  6,  p.  145. 

Mr.  Holmes  was  tlie  second  son  of  Malchiah  Holmes, 
and  was  born  at  Kingston,  Massachusetts,  in  March,  1773. 


276  JOHN   HOLMES. 

His  early  life  was  passed  as  a  manufacturer  in  the  extensive 
iron  works  of  his  father  at  that  place.  He  was  seen  toiling 
at  the  furnace  by  a  collegian,  the  temporary  schoolmaster 
of  the  village,  who,  licing  attracted  by  his  intelligence, 
advised  his  fiither  to  educate  him.  The  hint  was  improved, 
and  in  December,  17ii2,  at  the  age  of  nearly  twenty,  he  took 
his  first  lessons  in  Cheever's  Latin  Accidence,  at  the  town 
school.  His  friend,  on  leaving  the  school  in  the  spring,  com- 
mended young  Holmes,  who  had  made  very  rapid  progress 
in  his  studies,  to  the  instruction  of  Rev.  Zephaniah  Willis, 
the  venerable  minister  of  Kingston.  He  was  admitted  at 
Brown  University  one  year  in  advance,  in  1793,  where  he 
pursued  his  studies  with  great  assiduity,  and  was  a  good 
scholar,  although  he  labored  under  serious  disadvantage,  for 
want  of  early  training.  He  enjoyed  the  friendship  of  his 
college  companions  by  his  good  humor,  his  frank  and  amiable 
manners.  The  same  fearlessness,  the  same  easy  and  inde- 
pendent manner,  characterized  him  there,  as  in  the  subse- 
quent periods  of  his  life.  Among  his  classmates  were  Tris- 
tram Burgess  of  Rhode  Island,  Chief  Justice  Aldrich  of 
Vermont,  Dr.  Benjamin  Shurtleff  of  Boston,  and  Dr.  Ben- 
jamin 0.  Simmons  of  South  Carolina.  He  was  graduated 
with  a  respectable  appointment  in  1796,  and  immediately 
entered  upon  his  professional  studies  with  Benjamin  Whit- 
man, who  then  resided  at  Hanover,  and  was  in  full  and  dis- 
tinguished i)racticc  in  the  Old  Colony,  He  was  a  diligent 
student,  and  fully  bent  on  success  in  his  profession. 

On  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  in  1799,  he  resolved  to 
seek  his  fortune  in  the  eastern  country,  as  affording  to  the 
enterprising  and  intelligent  adventurer  an  eminent  promise 
of  success,  and  an  ample  field  of  professional  lal>or.  He 
established  himself  in  September,  1799,  at  Alfred,  in  the 
county  of  York,  then  a  district  of  the  town  of  Sanford, 
and  containing  but  about  eight  hundred  and  fifty  inhabi- 


JOHN    HOLMES.  277 

tants.  It  was  not  incorporated  until  1808  ;  still,  it  afforded 
a  very  favorable  opportunity  for  a  talented  young  man  to 
rise  in  the  profession.  He  was  for  several  years  the  only 
lawyer  in  the  neighborhood.  The  titles  to  land  in  that 
part  of  the  country  were  in  an  imperfect  and  unsettled  state  ; 
the  settlers  had  made  their  pitches  upon  vacant  spots,  in  what 
was  called  the  FlneUcn  or  Phillips  Grant,  and  made  tlieir 
improvements  without  a  shadow  of  title :  the  proprietors 
had  just  begun  to  make  an  investigation  of  their  riglits. 
Mr.  Holmes  was  employed  l)y  tliem  for  this  purpose,  and 
pursued  the  in(]uiry  and  the  prosecution  of  the  claims  with 
great  industry  and  success.  Many  actions  were  necessarily 
brought,  and  much  and  exasperated  litigation  was  the  con- 
sequence, which  called  forth  great  legal  talejit  from  Maine 
and  Massachusetts,  and  settled  some  very  important  ques- 
tions in  the  law  of  real  estate.  The  statement  of  one  of 
these  cases,  in  which  Mr.  Dane  of  Beverly  appeared  as  coun- 
sel, may  be  found  in  7  Dane's  Abridgement,  697.  The  dis- 
cussion of  the  points  in  this  case  produced  some  little  excite- 
ment between  Chief  Justice  Parsons  and  the  counsel,  par- 
ticularly with  Mr.  Dane,  toward  whom  the  judge  expressed 
himself  with  some  impatience,  in  regard  to  the  plea  of  not 
guillij  to  a  writ  of  right.  These  cases  brought  Mr.  Holmes 
into  extensive  practice,  and  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  the 
law  of  real  estate  ;  and  his  fees  were  not  inconsiderable. 
The  counsel  upon  the  other  side  complained  to  him  that  he 
received  all  the  emoluments,  while  they  had  to  bear  heavy 
burdens.  At  the  time  Mr.  Holmes  commenced  practice, 
the  Supreme  Court  was  composed  of  Chief  Justice  Dana, 
and  Justices  Paine,  Bradbury,  Nathan  Gushing,  and  Dawes, 
and  was  held  at  York  once  a  year.  The  Common  Pleas 
consisted  of  Nathaniel  "Wells,  Edward  Cutts,  Jonas  Clark, 
and  Simon  Frye,  none  of  whom  were  educated  as  lawyers. 
There  were  three  terms  a  year  of  this  court,  held  at  York, 
Waterboro',  and  Biddeford. 


278  JOHN   HOLMES. 

The  courts  in  York,  beside  tlieir  own  lawyers,  were  attend- 
ed by  the  late  Chief  Justice  Parker,  Mr.  Symmes,  and  Solic- 
itor Davis  of  Portland,  some  New  Hampshire  lawyers,  and 
occasionally  by  a  professional  gentleman  from  Massachusetts, 
and  were  made  the  occasion  of  a  great  deal  of  mirth  and 
hilarity.  The  Judges  and  the  lawyers,  on  account  of  the 
badness  of  the  roads,  generally  performed  their  circuits  on 
horsel)ack,  and  often  met  witii  poor  fare  and  rougli  usage  ; 
but  when  they  could  not  get  a  good  dinner,  they  would  con- 
trive to  have  a  good  laugh,  to  which  Judge  Paine,  Mr.  Davis, 
and  the  late  Judge  George  Tliacher  contributed  no  little  of 
the  Attic  seasoning.  Tiie  mail  was  also  transported  on  horse- 
back. It  is  related  that  a  respectable  lawyer,  on  one  occa- 
sion, as  lie  was  passing  through  Saco  woods,  met  the  mail- 
carrier,  and  expecting  a  letter  from  Boston  by  the  mail, 
which  only  came  once  or  twice  a  week,  he  expressed  to  the 
post-rider  his  desire  to  obtain  the  letter.  He  took  off  his 
mail-bag  without  hesitation,  poured  the  contents  upon  the 
ground,  and  they  both  went  to  work  searching  for  the  desired 
object.  The  letter  having  been  found,  the  carrier  quietly 
deposited  the  remaining  budget  in  his  bag,  and  pursued  his 
way.  This  collection  of  lawyers,  jurors,  suitors,  and  Avit- 
nesses  filled  up  the  small  villages  in  which  the  courts  were 
held,  and  the  public  houses  could  not  atlford  comfortable 
accommodation  for  the  persons  that  thronged  them.  It  was 
quite  a  privilege,  enjoyed  by  few,  to  obtain  a  separate  bed, 
far  more  a  separate  chamber.  These  meetings  were  the 
occasion  of  much  dissipation,  in  which  many  members  of 
the  bar  were  no  ascetics.  The  gravity  and  dignity  of  the 
bar,  in  that  day  of  the  robe  and  the  wig,  were  very  apt  to  be 
left  in  the  court  room — they  were  seldom  seen  in  the  bar 
room.  Mr.  Holmes  contributed  his  share  to  the  amusement 
of  his  associates. 

The  number  of   lawyers  in  Maine,  at  the  time  of  Mr. 


JOHN   HOLMES.  279 

Holmes's  accession  to  the  bar,  was  forty-five,  of  whom  ten 
resided  in  the  county  of  York,  which  then  included  Oxford, 
and  was  the  most  populous  county  in  the  district. '  Tliose 
in  York  were  the  late  Chief  Justice  Mellen  and  George 
Thacher  in  Biddeford  ;  Cyrus  King  in  Saco  ;  Dudley  Hub- 
Ijard,  Ebcnczcr  Sullivan,  and  Edward  P.  Hayman  in  Ber- 
wick ;  Joseph  Thomas  and  George  W.  Wallingford  in  Ken- 
nebunk  ;  Judah  Dana  in  Fryeburg  ;  and  Xicliolas  Emery  in 
Parsonsfield.  Beside  these,  the  bar  of  Maine  then  contained 
the  names  of  Chief  Justice  Parker,  Justice  Wilde,  and 
Solicitor  General  Davis,  afterwards  of  Massachusetts ;  Chief 
Justice  Whitman,  then  of  New  Gloucester ;  William  Symmes; 
Salmon  Chase  of  Portland  ;  and  Silas  Lee  of  Wiscasset,  who 
was  afterwards  a  member  of  Congress,  and  fourteen  years 
United  States  Attorney  for  Maine.  These  all  were  distin- 
guished in  their  profession,  and  most  of  them  in  public  life. 

Mr.  Holmes  was  a  good  lawyer,  but  not  of  the  first  order. 
He  handled  the  weapons  of  wit  with  more  skill  and  effect 
than  those  of  a  severe  logic,  although  he  was  not  deficient 
in  that  prime  quality  of  a  sound  jurist.  The  force  of  his 
argument  was  sometimes  weakened,  or  at  least  appeared  to 
bo  less  close  and  stringent,  by  the  propensity  he  had,  and 
which  he  seemed  not  al)le  to  control,  of  mingling  in  his 
texture  the  threads  of  wit  and  anecdote.  He  was  quick  of 
perception,  and  seized  readily  upon  a  weak  point  of  his 
adversary,  which,  by  a  great  facility  of  language  and  infin- 
ite good  humor,  he  turned  to  the  best  account.  Whenever 
an  opportunity  occurred  of  exhibiting  his  oj)ponent  in  a 
ridiculous  position,  no  person  could  better  avail  himself  of 
the  occasion.  An  opportunity  of  this  kind  was  furnished  him 
in  the  discussion  which  took  place  in  the  Senate  of  the 
United  States,  on  some  subject  connected  with  nullification. 

1  The  population  of  York  County  was  then  Ihuty-four  tliuusaml ;  of  Maine, 
one  hundred  and  fifty-one  thousand. 


280  JOHN    HOLMES. 

Mr.  Tyler,  wc  believe,  alluding  to  the  satirical  remavk  of 
John  Kandol[)li,  some  years  previous,  which  designated  cer- 
tain active  politicians  as  partners,  under  the  name  of  "  James 
Madison,  Felix  Grundy,  John  Holmes,  and  the  Devil," 
inquired,  with  a  view  to  reproach  Mr.  Holmes,  what  had 
become  of  that  celebrated  firm.  Mr.  Holmes  immediately 
sprung  upon  his  feet,  and  said,  "  Mr.  Speaker,  I  will  tell 
the  gentleman  what  has  become  of  that  firm :  the  first  mem- 
ber is  dead,  the  second  has  gone  into  retirement,  and  the 
last  has  gone  to  the  NuUifiers,  and  is  now  electioneering 
among  the  gentleman's  constituents  !  and  thus  the  partner- 
ship is  legally  dissolved."  The  laugh  produced  on  this 
occasion  was  wholly  at  the  expense  of   Mr.  Tyler. 

In  his  discussions  at  the  bar,  Mr.  Holmes  often  carried 
the  exercise  of  this  talent  too  far  for  good  taste  or  ultimate 
benefit  to  his  client.  To  raise  a  laugh  at  the  expense  of  an 
opponent  is  not  always  to  gain  a  cause :  he  was  yet  very 
successful  with  the  jury,  and  a  popular  advocate,  and  became 
and  continued  for  several  years  the  leader  of  the  York  bar. 
"Wit  and  humor  were  the  characteristics  of  his  mind,  and  he 
delighted  in  their  display.  An  instance  or  two,  at  random, 
will  exhibit  this  trait  more  perfectly.  He  was  once  assist- 
ing a  client  in  the  survey  of  a  parcel  of  land,  about  which 
he  was  quarreling  with  his  neighbor.  Neither  of  the  par- 
ties was  of  unimpeachable  character.  As  they  were  passing 
through  a  portion  of  the  disputed  territory,  they  came  to  a 
swamp  covered  with  bushes  and  almost  impassable.  One  of 
the  litigants  said  to  Mr.  Holmes, "  This,  Squire,  is  the  Devil's 
hop-yard."  "  Ah  !"  said  Mr.  Holmes,  "  then  I  think  the 
Devil  must  be  dead,  for  I  see  his  sons  arc  quarreling  for  the 
inheritance.^^  "  Thon  you  expect  to  prevail,"  said  the  op- 
posing counsel,  "  as  your  client  is  the  oldest  heir."  "  It  is 
not  certain,"  said  he,  "  my  client,  to  be  sure,  is  the  oldest, 
but  yours  is  the  most  deserving-.^^     Mr.  Holmes  was  equally 


JOHN   HOLMES.  281 

happy  in  the  relation  of  anecdotes.  The  Rev.  Mr.  P.,  some 
years  since,  delivered  a  lecture  at  Alfred  on  the  subject  of 
slavery,  and  took  for  his  text  the  words,  "  Remember  them 
that  are  in  l)onds  as  bound  with  them."  After  he  had  fin- 
ished his  discourse,  which  was  an  able  one,  Mr.  Holmes 
observed  that,  whatever  miglit  be  justly  said  against  the 
institution  of  slavery,  he  did  not  think  the  text  ever  had  or 
was  intended  to  liave  any  application  to  the  subject ;  it  related 
to  a  very  different  aifair.  The  application  of  it  to  domestic 
slavery  reminded  liim  of  a  clergyman  who  preached  from 
this  text,  "  And  David  took  from  the  brook  three  smooth 
stones."  "  Now,  my  hearers,"  said  the  preacher,  "  by  these 
words  I  intend  to  prove,  explain,  and  illustrate  the  doctrine 
of  the  T/-m%."  "  It  wasjiue  smooth  stones,"  said  the  dea- 
con, in  a  low  tone,  very  respectfully.  "  We  will  see,"  said 
the  preacher,  opening  the  book  with  some  excitement,  and 
read  deliberately,  "  And  David  took  from  the  brook  fii^e 
smooth  stones."  "Well,  my  hearers,"  said  he,  "I  made  a 
small  mistake  in  the  fact,  but  it  makes  not  the  slightest  dif- 
ference in  the  arg-ument.^^ 

During  a  portion  of  the  time  of  Mr.  Holmes's  practice, 
Joseph  Bartlett  also  practiced  at  that  bar.  He  was  a  grad- 
uate of  Harvard,  of  the  class  of  1782,  and  settled  first  in 
Woburn,  Massachusetts :  he  came  to  Saco  in  1802.  In  some 
respects  he  resembled  Mr.  Holmes :  he  was  a  better  scholar, 
and  of  a  more  polished  wit :  his  manners  were  insinuating, 
and  he  possessed  a  peculiar  sway  over  the  minds  of  young 
men.  In  other  respects  he  was  far  different  from  Mr.  Holmes ; 
he  was  treacherous  to  his  friends,  abandoned  in  his  morals, 
and  miserable  in  his  end.  Yet  the  early  part  of  his  career 
was  brilliant  and  promising. 

Mr.  Bartlett,  while  he  resided  at  Saco,  had  a  libel  suit 
against  the  publisher  of  the  Arn-iis,  a  democratic  paper  pub- 
lished at  Portland,  and  anotlicr  upon  the  jail  bond,  given  by 

19 


282  JOHN    HOLMES. 

the  defendant  in  this  case,  growing  out  of  political  questions. 
The  latter  case,  which  Avas  a  very  severe  one  for  the  defend- 
ants, was  argued  by  Solicitor  Davis  and  Samuel  Dexter  for 
the  plaintiff,  and  by  the  famous  Barnabas  Bidwell  and  the 
late  Judge  Story  of  Massachusetts,  for  the  defense  ;  a  re- 
port of  it  is  contained  in  the  Massachusetts  Reports,  volume 
3,  page  86.  The  former  was  conducted  by  Mr.  Mellen,  Mr. 
Emery,  and  Mr.  Holmes  for  tlie  plaintiff,  and  Cyrus  King 
and  Judge  Wilde  for  the  defendant.  There  was  much  irri- 
tation and  sparring  between  the  counsel :  the  case  was 
closed  by  Judge  "Wilde  for  the  defendant,  in  a  clear,  con- 
cise, and  highly  finished  argument,  which  produced  a  deep 
sensation.  Mr.  Mellen  was  also  very  able  in  his  closing  ar- 
gument for  the  plaintiff. 

One  of  the  principal  competitors  of  Mr.  Holmes  at  the  bar 
and  in  politics,  was  Cyrus  King,  of  Saco,  a  fine  lawyer  and 
an  accomplished  scholar ;  a  man  of  ardent  temperament, 
inflexible  principle,  and  elevated  moral  character.  Mr. 
Holmes  frequently  took  advantage  of  his  temper  to  gain 
advantages  over  him  at  the  bar.  By  the  coolness  of  his 
own  temper,  he    often  succeeded  in  this  attempt. 

Mr.  Holmes  was  not  content  with  the  quiet  pursuit  of  his 
professional  duties,  although  he  had  an  extensive  and  prof- 
itable business.  "  Tlie  gladsome  light  of  jurisprudence  " 
w  as  not  brightand  warm  enough  for  him  : — he  loved  law, 
but  he  loved  politics  more  :  he  was  ambitious,  and  like  too 
many  of  the  profession,  he  abandoned  the  embraces  of  the 
most  noble  of  sciences  for  the  strife  of  politics.  How  many 
thousands  who  have  embarked  their  proud  hopes  and  anxious 
expectations  upon  this  wild  and  stormy  sea,  after  a  course  of 
imposing  but  transient  grandeur,  have  been  swept  away  into 
entire  forge tfulness,  while  the  names  of  the  upright  judge 
and  the  learned  jurist,  the  Hales,  the  Mansfields,  the  Par- 


JOHN    HOLMES.  283 

sons,  and  Marshalls,  continue  fresh  and  fragrant,  as  the  ben- 
efactors of  their  race. 

Mr.  Holmes  was  of  a  sanguine  temperament,  and  ambi- 
tious of  distinction.  He  began  life  as  a  federalist  of  the  old 
school,  and  was  not  Ijackward  in  making  his  principles  known 
and  felt.  He  was  elected  by  that  party  in  1802  and  1803 
to  the  Legislature  of  Massachusetts,  from  Sanford  and 
Alfred.  But  the  federal  policy,  although  it  had  the  ascen- 
dency in  Massachusetts,  was  not  to  the  taste  of  the  people  of 
his  town  or  county,  nor,  indeed,  of  the  majority  in  Maine. 
He  could  not,  therefore,  succeed  any  more  as  the  candidate 
of  the  party ;  still,  he  labored  on  in  the  cause  with  great 
ardor,  hoping  against  hope,  through  the  exciting  periods  of 
the  embargoes  and  non-intercourse,  when,  finding  there  was 
no  stemming  the  tide  of  democratic  principles,  he  yielded 
to  the  storm  like  many  of  his  cotemporaries,  and  trimmed 
his  sails  to  the  prevailing  wind  of  popular  favor. 

In  this  connection,  we  cannot  forbear  presenting  our  read- 
ers with  a  specimen  of  Mr.  Holmes's  poetical  talent.  In 
1810,  a  democratic  caucus  was  held  at  Kennebunk  for  the 
selection  of  candidates.  It  was  said  by  their  opponents, 
that,  disregarding  the  modern  rule  of  total  abstinence,  they 
determined  to  try  the  efficacy  of  treating  at  the  election. 
Mr.  Holmes,  with  a  good  deal  of  tact,  seized  upon  this  topic, 
and  published  the  eifusion  in  six  stanzas,  from  which  we 
copy  the  first  and  last : 

KENNKBUNK      CADCUS. 

SONG. 

••  The  York  County  Bonos  of  late  had  a  meeting  : 
The  object  was  great,  but  the  party  was  small. 
The  marshal  had  issued  his  circulars  greeting, 
To  tag,  rag,  and  bob  tail  to  meet  at  his  call, 
lie  called  for  attention 
While  he  made  objection 


284  JOHN    HOLMES. 

To  Gore's  re-election, 

And  wished  they'd  be  mum  ; 
But  while  he  was  stating 
The  cause  of  the  meeting, 
^  The  caucus  was  prating, 

And  calling  for  —  rum.  l 

So,  bribing  the  printer,  and  treating  the  voters. 

Was  the  plan  they  adopted  the  election  to  carry, 
And  ride,  by  tlie  help  of  those  tipsy  supporters. 
Into  office,  by  votes  they  had  purchased  for  Gerry, 
When  all  shouted  applause, 
To  the  Jacobin  cause. 
And  declared,  by  the  laws, 

They  would  never  be  dumb  ; 
And  most  solemnly  swore, 
Than  to  re-elect  Gore, 
They  had  rather  give  more 
Than  a  hogshead  of  rum." 

The  four  other  stanzas  make  pointed  reference  to  the  lead- 
ing Democratic  politicians  of  York  County,  such  as  Marshal 
Thornton,  Judge  Green,  William  Moody,  Stephen  Thacher, 
&c. 

In  the  latter  part  of  1811,  he  became  the  advocate  of  the 
national  administration,  and  the  war  measures  of  Mr.  Mad- 
ison. And  immediately  on  the  next  election,  he  was  returned 
a  representative  to  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  from 
Alfred,  So  high  stood  his  reputation  with  his  new  friends, 
that  he  was  their  candidate  for  Speaker  of  the  House,  in 
opposition  to  the  old  incumbent,  Timothy  Bigelow.  A  large 
majority  of  the  House  were  the  political  friends  of  Mr.  Bige- 
low, and  he  was  re-elected  ;  but  Mr.  Holmes  became  an 
untiring  assailant  of  the  measures  of  the  majority,  and  a 
vigorous  partisan  and  active  leader  of  the  party  which  he 
had  espoused.     He  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  Massachu- 

i  "  The  historical  election  anecdote  of  the  purchase  of  rum  to  carry  on  the 
elections  in  York  County  is  well  known." 


JOHN   HOLMES.  285 

setts  in  1813,  and  continued  a  member  of  that  body  during 
the  trials  and  excitements  of  the  war,  boldly  sustaining  the 
policy  of  the  national  government,  and  contending  with 
unabated  ardor  against  all  the  anti-war  measures  of  Mas- 
sachusetts. He  was  appointed  Lieutenant  Colonel  in  Col. 
Lane's  Regiment,  United  States  Army,  in  1813,  but  declined 
the  appointment. 

Ths  situation  of  Mr.  Holmes  in  the  Legislature  was  one 
which  would  have  exceedingly  embarrassed  a  man  of  ordi- 
nary firmness  or  less  buoyancy  of  mind.  The  suddenness  of 
his  change  of  sentiment,  and  the  zeal  with  which  he  advo- 
cated the  cause  to  which  he  had  devoted  himself,  became 
the  subject  of  severe  rebuke  on  the  part  of  his  former  asso- 
ciates. The  keen  severity  of  Daniel  A.  White,  the  polished 
irony  of  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  the  caustic  humor  of  Josiah 
Quincy  and  Judge  Putnam,  were  not  spared  in  the  frequent 
and  sharp  encounters  which  the  political  heats  of  the  day 
engendered.  And  it  would  be  doing  great  injustice  to  Mr. 
Holmes  not  to  say,  that  he  sustained  himself  with  great  abil- 
ity in  these  trying  and  unequal  contests.  For  wit  he  returned 
wit,  and  full  measure  ;  for  argument,  argument,  although 
his  dialectics  were  not  of  the  most  compact  form ;  and  on  all 
occasions  he  preserved  his  coolness.  He  was  a  ready  debater, 
never  taken  by  surprise,  and  when  argument  was  deficient 
or  unavailing,  he  pressed  into  his  service  the  auxiliaries  of 
wit  and  satire. 

In  1815,  he  was  appointed  by  Mr.  Madison,  commissioner 
under  the  fourth  article  of  the  treaty  of  Ghent,  to  make  di- 
vision between  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain,  of  the 
islands  in  Passamaquoddy  Bay.  Tlie  next  year  he  was 
elected  a  representative  to  Congress  from  York  district  to 
succeed  Mr.  King,  and  re-elected  in  1818  without  opposition, 
having  received  eleven  hundred  and  six  out  of  eleven  hund- 
red and  eighty-two  votes.     This  latter  was  a  period  wlien 


286       JOHN  HOLMES  :  BRUNSWICK  CONVENTION. 

parties  were  in  a  transition  state,  and  little  excitement  agi- 
tated the  public  mind.  While  he  was  discharging  the  du- 
ties of  commissioner  and  member  of  Congress,  he  was  ac- 
tively engaged  in  effecting  the  separation  of  Maine  from 
Massachusetts.  He  not  only  labored  in  this  work,  but  he 
led  in  it,  and  as  a  leader  he  had  to  bear  the  blame  of 
whatever  measures  of  his  party  were  injudicious  or  unjust- 
ifiable. 

In  the  proceedhigs  of  the  Brunswick  convention,  in  1816, 
which  reported  a  constitution,  on  the  assumption  that  the 
requisite  majority  of  five-ninths  had  been  obtained,  he  sus- 
tained a  liberal  share  of  abuse.  He  was  not,  however,  the 
author  of  the  political  arithmetic  which  converted  five-nint]»s 
of  the  aggregate  majorities  of  the  corporations  into  a  major- 
ity of  five-ninths  of  the  legal  voters  of  the  district.  He 
indeed  signed  the  report  of  that  committee  as  the  chairman, 
and  thus  the  paternity  of  that  calculation  was  cast  upon  him. 
It  is  unnecessary  to  say  that  the  plan  did  not  succeed,  tlie 
Legislature  of  Massachusetts  not  being  inclinedto  sanction 
so  palpable  a  perversion  of  the  plain  import  of  language. 
The  next  attempt,  however,  at  separation,  succeeded ;  and  a 
convention  met  at  Portland,  in  October,  1819,  composed  of 
the  most  prominent  and  able  men  in  Maine,  to  form  a  con- 
stitution of  government.  Mr.  Holmes  was  appointed  chair- 
man of  the  committee  which  drafted  the  instrument,  and 
took  a  conspicuous  part  in  all  the  discussions  whicli  led  to 
the  adoption  of  the  constitution  under  which  the  people  of 
Maine  now  live. 

In  1820,  he  was  elected  the  first  senator  to  Congress  from 
the  new  State,  and  continued  to  hold  that  honorable  station, 
by  renewed  election,  until  1827.  In  1828,  lie  was  again 
elected  to  the  Senate,  for  the  unexpired  term  of  Judge  Par- 
ris,  who  was  appointed  to  the  bench  of  tlie  Supreme  Court, 
in  June,  1828.     In  1833,  his  Congressional  life  ceased,  and 


JOHN    HOLMES.  287 

he  returned,  with  all  the  freshness  of  'oiith,  to  the  practice 
of  the  law,  after  an  uninterrupted  and  .^.ost  successful  polit- 
ical career  of  over  twenty-two  years,  in  which  there  was  not 
a  year  when  he  was  not  occupying  some  public  station.  In 
1836  and  1837,  he  was  elected  a  representative  from  Alfred 
to  the  Legislature  of  Maine,  and,  in  1841,  he  was  appointed, 
by  President  Harrison,  attorney  of  the  United  States,  for 
the  Maine  district,  in  which  office  he  died,  July  7,  1843. 

Few  persons  have  had  their  ambition  more  fully  gratified 
than  Mr.  Holmes.  The  road  of  public  life  was  freely  opened 
before  him,  and  he  appeared  to  have  attained  whatever  in 
that  direction  he  most  desired.  That  he  acquired  a  very 
exalted  or  enviable  reputation  cannot  be  awarded  him :  he 
may  rather  be  considered  a  skillful  partisan  than  an  able 
statesman  :  he  directed  his  energies  to  skirmishing  and  hang- 
ing upon  the  flanks  of  his  political  opponents,  ratlier  than 
striking  out  any  great  and  permanently  useful  measures. 
His  popularity  at  one  time  in  Maine  was  very  great,  and  he 
managed  matters  in  his  own  way.  In  reviewing  the  life  of 
such  a  man,  we  may  perhaps  derive  a  useful  reflection  upon 
the  danger,  not  to  say  folly,  of  leaving  the  broad  highway 
of  an  honorable  and  profitable  profession,  for  the  fitful  and 
the  exciting  pursuits  and  the  unsubstantial  rewards  of  the 
mere  politician.  That  Mr.  Holmes  had  as  much  of  popular 
favor  and  its  fruits  as  falls  to  the  lot  of  men,  none  will  deny ; 
that  they  furnished  him  the  satisfaction  and  the  rewards 
which  he  would  have  acquired  in  the  quiet  progress  of  his 
profession,  we  do  not  believe. 

Whatever  estimate  maybe  formed  of  Mr.  Holmes's  public 
life,  there  is  no  diversity  of  opinion  in  regard  to  his  private 
and  domestic  qualities.  He  was  a  kind  husband,  a  tender 
and  judicious  parent,  and  a  good  neighbor.  As  a  townsman, 
he  was  exceedingly  vigilant  in  promoting  the  interests  of 
his  fellow  citizens  in  the  matters  of  education,  internal 


288  (JOHN    HOLMES. 

improvements,  and  /irhateyer  related  to  their  municipal 
interests.  From  th(^  time  he  settled  in  Alired,  he  never 
ceased  his  exertions  until  he  procured  all  the  courts  of  York 
County  to  be  held  in  that  place,  which  was  finally  accom- 
plished in  1833.  He  also  succeeded  in  having  the  route  of 
a  railroad  from  Portland  to  Dover  laid  out  through  his 
adopted  town,  but  failed  in  raising  the  means  to  complete  it. 
Mr.  Holmes  was  twice  married  :  his  first  wife  was  Sally 
Brooks  of  Scituate,  to  whom  he  was  united  in  September, 
1800.  By  her  he  had  all  his  children,  tsvo  sons  and.  two 
daughters.  His  eldest  daughter  married  the  Hon.  Daniel 
Goodenow,  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Maine  :  she  died 
a  few  years  since.  His  second  wife  was  the  widow  of  James 
Swan,  son  of  Col.  James  Swan  of  Boston,  and  the  accom- 
plished daughter  of  General  Knox,  to  whom  he  was  married 
in  July,  1837.  He  moved  the  next  year  to  her  seat  in  Thom- 
aston,  the  late  residence  of  her  father,  where  he  continued 
the  principal  portion  of  the  time,  until  his  appointment  as 
district  attorney,  when  he  divided  his  residence  between 
Portland  and  Thomaston.  He  devoted  that  period  of  his 
life  to  the  preparation  of  a  digest  of  public  and  private  law, 
which  he  published  in  1840,  under  the  name  of  the  ^  States- 
man," in  one  octavo  volume.  In  this  work  he  passes  rap- 
idly through  the  circuit  of  jurisprudence,  contenting  him- 
self by  presenting  a  succinct  statement  of  general  princi- 
ples ill  constitutional  and  municipal  law. 

It  is  satisfactory,  in  closing  this  account  of  a  man  who 
has  occupied,  for  many  years,  so  large  a  space  in  public  opin- 
ion, to  be  able  to  say  that  the  last  scenes  of  his  life  were 
calm  and  delightful — life's  fitful  fever  was  over :  the  pageant- 
ry had  passed  before  liim  in  all  its  gaudy  drapery  :  his  heart 
was  weary  of  it,  and  sought  that  rest  which  only  can  be 
found  in  a  close  communion  with  its  divine  author.  His 
intellect  was  clear  to  the  last ;   his  faith  was  unclouded  ;  he 


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At  the  a^e  'jf  80  years 


JOHN  holmes:   ezekiel  whitman,  289 

knew  in  whom  he  trusted,  and  exhausted  nature  surren- 
dered up  the  spirit,  without  a  murmur  or  a  struggle,  to  the 
hand  that  gave  it. 

The  United  States  District  Court  being  in  session,  the 
morning  after  Mr.  Holmes's  death,  Judge  Emery,  the  only 
survivor  of  the  York  bar,  when  Mr.  Holmes  entered  it, 
except  Judge  Dana  of  Fryeburg,  communicated  to  the  court, 
in  a  highly  appropriate  manner,  the  intelligence  of  the  de- 
cease of  the  United  States  attorney.  Judge  Ware  briefly 
replied,  expressing  his  high  sense  of  Mr.  Holmes's  merits,  and 
his  sympathy  with  the  bar  on  the  occasion,  and  observed  that 
he  was  ready  to  unite  with  them,  in  paying  the  last  tribute 
of  respect  to  his  memory.  The  court  was  immediately 
adjourned,  and  the  bar  then  adopted  appropriate  resolutions, 
and  attended  his  remains,  the  next  day,  to  their  final  rest- 
ing place.  Appropriate  services  were  performed  in  the  High 
street  church,  which  he  attended,  and  he  was  buried  under 
Masonic  honors. 

EZEKIEL     WHITMAN.      1799—1822. 

Ezekiel  Whitman  was  born  in  East  Bridgewater,  Massa- 
chusetts, March  9,  1776.  He  was  of  the  sixth  generation 
of  the  descendants  of  John  Whitman,  who  came  to  this 
country  about  the  year  1635  from  England,  and  settled  in 
Weymouth,  Massachusetts,  where  he  died  at  an  advanced 
age.  His  descent  was  through  Thomas,  the  eldest  son  of 
John,  who  was  born  in  England,  and  came  over  with  his 
mother  at  the  age  of  about  twelve  years,  several  years  after 
his  father's  migration.  In  1662,  Tliomas  moved  to  Bridge- 
water,  where  he  died  in  1712,  aged  about  eighty-three.  Nich- 
olas was  the  third  son  of  Thomas  ;  Josiali  was  the  ciglith 
son  of  Nicholas ;  and  Josiah's  third  son,  Josiah,  was  the 
father  of  Ezekiel,  the  subject  of  our  memoir.     The  descend- 


290  EZEKIEL   WHITMAN. 

ants  of  Thomas  Wliitman  contain  examples  of  remarkable 
longevity,  llis  daug-htcr  Susannah,  who  married  Benjamin 
Willis  of  Bridgewater,  died  at  the  age  of  ninety-eight ;  his 
grand-daughter  Sarah  was  ninety-four ;  four  grandsons  aver- 
aged eighty-six  years  ;  one  great-grand-daughter  lived  to  be 
ninety-five  ;  and  one  great-grandson,  John  of  East  Bridge- 
water,  died  in  1842,  at  the  great  age  of  one  hundred  and 
seven  years ;  the  ages  of  twelve  great-grandchildren  of  Thom- 
as amounted  to  one  thousand  and  sixty-four  years,  giving  an 
average  of  eighty-eight  and  two-thirds  years ;  and  four  great- 
great-grandchildren  are  now  living,  of  whom  Chief  Justice 
Wliitman  is  one,  and  his  sister,  another,  whose  average  age 
is  eighty-four  and  one-half  years.  Judge  Whitman's  father, 
Josiah,  died  in  1777,  a  year  after  his  birth,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-four  years.  His  mother  was  Sarah,  a  daughter  of 
Caleb  Sturtcvant  of  Halifax,  Massachusetts,  by  p]Iizabeth 
Smith,  a  daughter  of  Ezekiel  Smith  of  Hingham,  from  whom 
he  derived  his  Christian  name.  She  was  a  lineal  descend- 
ant of  Elder  Robert  Cushman  of  Plymouth.  Judge  Whit- 
man is  of  the  seventh  generation  from  Elder  Cushman,  and 
in  the  same  degree  from  Samuel  Sturtevant  of  Plymouth  in 
1G43,  the  ancestor  of  the  families  of  that  name.  His  mother 
was  left  poor,  with  two  infant  children,  a  son  and  daughter. 
And  she  did  not  survive  to  superintend  the  education  of 
licr  children,  nor  to  enjoy  the  prosperity  and  lienor  which 
her  son  achieved. 

His  life,  thus  begun  in  sorrow,  was  continued  many  years 
through  a  hard  struggle  with  poverty.  At  the  age  of  seven, 
the  Rev.  Levi  Whitman  of  Wellfleet  took  charge  of  him, 
and  gave  him  the  rudiments  of  an  education,  and  treated 
liim  with  a  kindness  which  he  never  forgot,  and  which  he 
repaid  to  the  venerable  elder  when  in  old  age  their  circum- 
stances were  reversed.  The  children,  also,  of  his  uncle,  he. 
received  into  his  family,  and  made  provision  for  them.     At 


EZEKIEL   WHITMAN  :    COLLEGE   EXPENSES.  291 

the  age  of  fourteen  years  he  became  uneasy  at  his  state  of 
dependence,  and  determined  to  go  to  sea ;  but  his  uncle  res- 
olutely opposed  that  mode  of  life,  and  persuaded  him  to  pur- 
sue the  preparatory  studies  for  a  liberal  education.  For 
this  purpose  he  was  placed  with  the  Rev.  Killjorn  Whitman 
of  Pembroke,  who  afterwards  l)ecame  a  lawyer  of  consider- 
able practice  in  Plymouth  County. 

He  was,  however,  a  wayward  student,  apt  to  learn  and 
quick  of  discernment,  but  not  very  diligent  in  the  routine 
methods  of  that  day.  His  life  had  been  so  desultory  that  he 
had  not  formed  habits  of  patient  industry.  But  it  was  no 
great  affair  at  that  time  to  pass  through  the  preliminary 
preparation  for  college.  A  little  knowledge  of  Virgil  and 
Cicero,  in  Latin,  and  of  Luke  and  the  Acts,  of  the  Greek 
Testament,  seem  to  have  been  sufficient  in  the  classical 
department ;  so,  after  fifteen  months'  study,  our  young  stu- 
dent, in  1791,  offered  himself  at  the  door  of  Brown  Univer- 
sity for  admission,  and  was  freely  received. 

This  college  had  been  in  operation  twenty-six  years.  The 
fir^t  President,  Dr.  Manning,  ceased  from  the  presidency 
and  life  in  1791,  and  the  next  year  was  succeeded  by  the 
learned  Dr.  Maxcy,  who  had  been  professor  of  Divinity. 
He  presided  over  the  institution  until  1802,  when  he  entered 
upon  the  presidency  of  Union  College  in  New  York.  The 
standard  of  education  was  at  that  time  low  in  all  our  col- 
leges, as  was  also  the  scale  of  expense,  in  comparison  of  both 
at  the  present  day.  The  tuition  at  Brown  University  was 
six  pounds  lawful  a  year ;  the  charge  for  board,  sweeping 
room,  and  making  the  bed  was  six  shillings  eiglit  pence  a 
week  ;  a  load  of  wood,  six  shillings  eight  pence,  and  candles 
nine  pence  a  pound.  The  cost  of  books  for  the  whole  col- 
lege course,  need,  as  a  manuscript  letter  of  a  deceased  schol- 
ar informs  mc,  not  exceed  three  pounds.  The  same  letter 
observes,  "  The  studying  weeks  are  thirty-nine  in  a  year,  but 


292  EZEKIEL   WHITMAN. 

if  a  scholar  "will  study  at  home,  he  need  not  be  here  more 
than  two-thirds  of  that.  I  think  that  twenty  pounds  per 
annum  might  largely  defray  all  the  necessary  expenses,  and 
that  the  scholar  might  keep  school  every  winter  to  earn  some 
part  of  that.  Scholars  are  allowed  to  be  gone  a  year  or 
more  at  a  time,  only  they  don't  rise  while  they  are  gone,  if 
they  can't  pass  examination  with  their  class  when  they  re- 
turn." Tlic  letter  referred  to  was  written  by  Martin  Parris, 
uncle  of  the  late  Governor  Parris  of  Maine.  Martin  Parris 
was  afterwards  settled  in  the  ministry  at  Marshfield.  '  He 
graduated  at  Brown  University  in  1790  ;  was  born  in  Pem- 
broke, and  died  in  Marshfield,  1839,  aged  seventy-two. 

The  class  into  which  Mr.  Whitman  entered,  numbered 
twenty-six  members,  and  was  the  largest  which  grad- 
uated at  the  college  until  1802.  During  the  vacation  of  his 
first  year,  and  the  winter  following,  he  taught  school  in 
Marshfield.  It  was  on  one  of  these  occasions  that  he  prac- 
ticed a  joke  upon  the  minister  which  had  nearly  cost  him 
his  situation.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Leonard  was  troubled  with  a 
painfully  hesitating  manner  of  delivery :  at  a  particular 
time  he  was  unusually  beset  with  this  infirmity  over  some 
word,  on  which  our  schoolmaster  became  impatient,  and 
spoke  in  an  audible  whisper,  "  Spell  it."  A  solemn  pause 
threw  young  Whitman,  then  but  sixteen  years  old,  into  con- 
fusion at  his  rashness,  which  was  only  relieved  by  a  severe 
rebuke  from  the  minister. 

His  funds  being  entirely  exhausted,  he  was  forced  to  leave 
college  in  his  senior  year,  and  ho  had  to  resort  to  school- 
keeping  to  recruit  his  means  for  completing  his  course  : 
returning  just  previous  to  commencement,  he  was,  after 
examination,  admitted  to  his  degree,  A  letter  written  to 
me  some  years  ago  by  Mr.  Whitman's  classmate  and  a  par- 
ticular friend,  the  late  Peleg  Chandler,  of  New  Gloucester, 
shows  the  hardships  which  young  men  in  narrow  circum- 


EZEKIEL   WHITMAN.  293 

stances  were  obliged  to  endure  in  order  to  obtain  an  educa- 
tion. Mr.  Chandler  had  been  pursuing  his  studies  with  the 
Rev.  Mr.  Briggs  of  Halifax  :  when  the  time  approached  for 
his  examination,  he  says  he  turned  his  face  toward  Prov- 
idence :  "I  traveled  on  with  rather  low  spirits  until  I  got 
into  a  village  in  the  south  part  of  Bridgewater,  called  Titi- 
cut.  It  was  a  monstrous  hot  day,  the  last  of  August,  1792. 
While  musing  along  on  my  old  Rosinante,  I  saw  a  person 
some  fifty  rods  ahead.  As  he  approached,  I  saw  he  was  a 
young  man  with  a  large  bundle  tied  up  in  a  bandanna  hand- 
kerchief hung  over  liis  back  on  a  cane  ;  he  had  on  no  coat, 
nor  jacket  or  stock.  He  wore  an  old  pair  of  nankeen  breech- 
es, and  I  think  he  had  his  stockings  and  shoes  in  one  hand, 
suspended  by  his  garters.  When  he  got  within  two  or  three 
rods,  he  sat  down  under  the  shade  of  an  oak.  As  I  ap- 
proached him,  he  saluted  me  by  saying,  '  I  guess  you  are 
going  to  college,  aint  you  ?  You  had  better  get  off  and  take 
comfort  with  me  under  this  shade. '  This  man  is  now  Chief 
Justice  of  Maine  (1843),  and  this  was  the  first  time  I  ever 
saw  or  heard  of  him.  We  laid  on  the  ground  under  this 
tree  three  or  four  hours.  I  told  him  who  I  was,  and  all  about 
my  difficulties,  and  my  fears  that  I  should  not  be  able  to 
enter  college.  He  gave  me  words  of  courage,  gave  me  the 
key  to  his  room,  for  he  had  been  there  the  freshman  year, 
and  we  agreed  to  chum  together."  "  Whitman  was  at  that 
time  sixteen,  and  I  was  almost  nineteen.  I  found  him  an 
agreeable  chum,  and  the  class  respected  and  loved  him. 
He  was  in  many  things  eccentric,  but  never  vicious  :  he  had 
a  mind  of  his  own,  and  always  pursued  that  mind.  He  was 
slow  of  speech  and  motion  ;  never  went  to  morning  prayers 
if  he  felt  sleepy ;  got  the  monitor  to  excuse  him  three  or 
four  times,  and  me,  when  the  roll  was  called,  to  speak  for 
him.  The  monitor  would  put  him  down  tardy  sometimes, 
and  then  he  would  say  that  he  started  in  season  ;    this  ere- 


294  EZEKIEL    WHITMAN. 

ated  a  smile  with  the  President,  who  knew  how  moderate 
his  momentum  was.  He  stood  high  with  President  Maxcy, 
as  he  invariably  told  the  truth,  let  the  consequence  be  what 
it  would.  I  don't  believe  there  was  one  in  our  class  in  whom 
the  government  had  more  confidence  than  in  him.  He  hat- 
ed the  studies  of  Latin  and  Greek,  and  did  not  excel  in 
them,  but  in  all  the  other  branches  he  stood  high  on  the  first 
half  of  the  class." 

This  trait  of  truthfulness,  exact  and  without  prevarication 
or  reservation,  he  carried  through  life,  and  left  the  impress 
of  it  on  all  his  children.  I  may  be  permitted  to  add,  from 
the  same  trusty  and  worthy  correspondent,  who  died  in  1847, 
some  further  traits  in  the  character  of  this  remarkable  man. 
"  Whilst  a  boy,  he  was  one  of  the  most  agreeable  compan- 
ions I  ever  met  with  ;  as  a  man,  he  was  generous  and  hon- 
orable and  kind.  He  was  obstinate  in  his  own  opinions,  but 
his  opinions  were  always,  or  nearly  so,  right.  If  roused  by 
insult  or  abuse,  the  storm  would  break  out,  and  time  ajone 
could  calm  the  elements  of  his  mind." 

On  taking  his  degree,  Mr.  Whitman's  funds  were  at  their 
lowest  ebb.  He  was  absolutely  penniless,  and  various  plans 
for  immediate  relief  passed  through  his  imagination :  one  of 
these  was  to  go  upon  the  stage.  Powell,  who  was  a  familiar 
star  sixty  or  seventy  years  ago,  was  playing  then  at  Prov- 
idence ;  and  the  vagary  came  into  his  mind  to  join  his  com- 
pany. How  many  young  men  of  genius  and  poverty  in  the 
old  country  have  tried  this  unfortunate  expedient !  His 
friend  Cbandler,  never  truer,  urged  every  argument  to  dis- 
suade him  from  this  course,  and  his  own  better  judgment 
coming  to  the  rescue,  he  abandoned  the  project,  and  also 
the  one,  almost  as  bad,  of  going  to  sea.  He  at  last,  after 
many  struggles,  came  to  the  resolution  of  studying  law,  and 
immediately  entered  the  office  of  Benjamin  Whitman  of 
Hanover,  where  he  remained  a  short  time,  and  then  went 


EZEKIEL   WHITMAN.  295 

to  that  of  Nahum  Mitchell  of  East  Brido-ewater.  Nothing 
could  have  been  more  propitious.  Mr.  Mitchell  was  a  good 
lawyer,  a  general  scholar,  and  a  man  of  most  admirable 
qualities.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Eiglith  Congress, 
was  afterwards  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in 
Plymouth  County,  and  held  other  places  of  distinction.  Mr. 
Mitchell,  finding  in  his  student  a  young  man  of  solid  judg- 
ment, quick  perceptions,  and  rare  ability,  confided  to  him 
many  cases  before  magistrates  and  referees,  in  which  he  al- 
ways acquitted  himself  in  a  manner  to  give  his  instructor 
not  only  satisfaction,  but  a  sure  token  of  future  success. 

He  had  acquired  so  good  a  character,  while  engaged  in  his 
legal  preparation,  that  he  was  employed  on  an  important 
mission  into  the  far  distant  regions  of  the  South-west.  A 
gentleman  of  Bridgewater  had  purchased  a  quantity  of  Vir- 
ginia land  warrants,  which  that  State  sold  with  unbounded 
liberality  at  very  low  prices,  the  locations  to  be  made  in 
what  is  now  the  State  of  Kentucky.  In  consequence  of 
these  indiscriminate  sales,  tlie  greatest  possible  confusion 
occurred  in  making  locations  and  securing  the  titles.  In 
some  instances,  the  same  land  was  covered  by  several  sur- 
veys loosely  and  indefinitely  made,  so  that  no  purchaser 
knew  what  was  his  own,  unless  he  took  and  kept  open  and 
actual  possession  of  it.  Kentucky  was  separated  from  Vir- 
ginia in  1790,  and  admitted  to  the  Union  in  1792.  The 
purchaser  of  whom  I  am  now  speaking  had  procured  a  large 
quantity  of  land  to  be  surveyed  and  located  under  his  war- 
rants, but  died  before  the  conflicts  in  regard  to  his  rights 
were  adjusted.  Mr.  Wliitman  was  sent  out,  by  his  heirs,  in 
1796,  to  gather  uj)  the  wrecks  of  the  property,  and  close  the 
settlement  of  the  estate.  He  traversed  the  whole  distance 
on  horseback  ;  spent  the  year  in  Kentucky,  in  accomplisliing 
the  object  of  his  journey,  and  returned  in  the  same  manner 
through  Cumberland  Gap,  Virginia,  Maryland,  <Src.     On  his 


296  EZEKIEL   WHITMAN. 

return  he  passed  tliroiigU  Washington,  and  was  there  at  the 
opening  of  the  special  session  of  Congress  on  the  subject  of 
the  French  violations  of  our  neutrality.  He  was  much  im- 
pressed with  the  dignified  and  imposing  appearance  of  the 
Senate,  which  contained  Langdon,  Ellsworth,  Hillhouse, 
Aaron  Burr,  and  Jetferson.  He  said  that  President  Adams 
personally  addressed  the  convention  of  the  two  houses  in  a 
very  forcible,  eloquent,  and  graceful  manner,  on  the  subject 
of  our  rela  tions  with  France.  He  was  dressed  elegantly, 
in  the  style  of  high  officials  of  the  early  day.  It  was  while 
he  was  on  this  journey,  that  he  passed  through  a  village  in 
which  a  court  was  holding  its  session.  Desirous  of  seeing  the 
forms  of  proceeding  in  that  country,  he  tied  his  horse  at  the 
door,  and  stepped  into  the  court  room.  He  had  not  been  long 
there  before,  a  vacancy  occurring  in  the  jury,  he  was  sum- 
moned as  a  talesman  to  supply  the  place.  He  prayed  to  be 
excused,  as  he  was  a  traveler  on  a  long  journey,  and  could 
not  conveniently  be  delayed.  But  the  court  would  not 
excuse  him,  and  he  was  obliged  to  take  his  seat.  It  was  not 
long,  however,  before  the  jury  were  dismissed  for  a  short 
time,  when  he,  considering  his  detention  unreasonable, 
availed  himself  of  the  opportunity,  mounted  his  horse,  and 
pursued  his  journey,  leaving  the  court  and  the  parties  to 
manage  the  cause  without  his  aid. 

Mr.  Whitman  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Plymouth  County 
in  the  spring  of  1799,  and  determined  to  seek  his  fortune  in 
Maine,  to  which  territory  his  attention  had  been  recently 
directed  as  a  promising  field  of  labor.  If  Josiah  QuinCy's 
sarcasm  was  true  in  regard  to  the  Old  Colony,  Mr.  Whitman 
was  right  in  leaving  it.  Judge  Mitchell  observed  to  Mr. 
Quincy  that  "  people  lived  to  a  great  age  in  the  Old  Colony." 
Mr.  Quincy  said  "  he  wondered  that  people  there  should 
want  to  live  long,  there  was  so  little  to  live  on,  or  live  for." 
This  was  something  like  Daniel  Webster's  answer  about  New 


EZEKIEL  WHITMAN.  297 

Hampshire,  "  that  it  was  a  good  State  to  go  from."  The 
population  of  Maine  was  then  one  hundred  and  fifty-onc 
thousand,  having  in  the  preceding  ten  years  increased  over 
forty-seven  percent.,  of  which  twenty-five  thousand  was  by 
immigration.  Cum1)erland  County  then  embraced  a  large 
part  of  the  present  county  of  Oxford,  contained  about  thirty- 
seven  thousand  inhabitants,  and  had  ten  lawyers;  viz.,  John 
Frothingliam,  Daniel  Davis,  "Wm.  Symmes,  Salmon  Chase, 
Isaac  Parker,  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  Massachusetts, 
James  D.  Hopkins,  George  E.  Vaughan,  all  of  Portland ; 
Peter  0.  Alden  of  Brunswick  ;  and  Samuel  Thatcher  of  New 
Gloucester.  The  whole  number  of  lawyers  in  the  Dis- 
trict of  Maine  at  that  time  was  thirty-seven  or  thirty-eight, 
among  whom  were  George  Thacher  and  Samuel  S.  "Wilde, 
afterwards  Judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts  ; 
Prentiss  Mellen,  late  Chief  Justice  of  Maine  ;  Silas  Lee  and 
Jeremiah  Bailey  of  Lincoln ;  James  Bridge  of  Augusta ; 
and  William  Wetmore  and  Job  Nelson  of  Castine.  In  Mas- 
sachusetts, the  l)ar  contained  the  names  of  men  who  had 
not  only  adorned  the  })rofession,  but  given  glory  to  the  coun- 
try :  James  Sullivan,  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  John  Lowell,  John 
Q.  Adams,  Josiah  Quincy,  Fisher  Ames,  Theophilus  Parsons, 
William  Prcscott,  Nathan  Dane,  Charles  Jackson,  Samuel 
Dexter,  Levi  Lincoln,  Caleb  Strong,  and  Theodore  Sedgwick. 
Why  should  we  name  more  ? 

In  April,  1799,  Mr.  Whitman  pursued  his  solitary  way  on 
horseback,  from  the  Old  Colony  into  the  wilds  of  Maine, 
the  only  comfortable  mode  of  traveling  at  tha»t  time  in  this 
part  of  the  country,  on  account  of  the  condition  of  the  roads. 
On  his  way  to  Turner,  his  place  of  destination,  he  stopped  a 
few  days  to  visit  his  classmate  and  chum.  Chandler,  where  ho 
obtained  several  engagements  for  the  next  court  in  Portland. 
He  encountered  a  snow  storm  on  the  7th  of  May,  as  he  jour- 
neyed to  Turner,  and  found  there  the  ground  covered  with 

20 


298  EZEKIEL   WHITMAN. 

snow  and  good  sleighing,  which  did  not  give  him  a  favor- 
able impression  of  tlic  climate  after  residing  in  the  compar- 
atively genial  one  of  Plymonth  County.  Few  attornies,  on 
entering  practice,  were  better  qnalified  for  its  duties  than 
Mr.  Whitman  :  he  had  been  well  instructed  and  disciplined 
in  the  profession,  and  taught  to  exercise  and  rely  on  his  own 
powers.  His  whole  apparatus  of  books  to  guide  him  in  the 
intricacies  of  the  law  were  that  most  happy  and  comprehen- 
sive work,  Blackstone's  Commentaries,  a  universal  authority, 
and  in  every  lawyer's  hands  ;  the  Nisi  Prius  Digest  of  Mr. 
Espinasse,  which  had  recently  been  published,  embracing 
the  substance  of  Justice  Buller's  work  with  additional  cases  ; 
the  Statutes  of  Massacliusetts ;  and  the  four  books  of  forms 
published  by  our  worthy  townsman,  Samuel  Freeman,  styled 
"  The  Clerk's  Assistant,  "  Probate  Auxiliary,"  "  Town  Of- 
ficer," and  "  Justice's  Assistant.  "  These  books  were  indis- 
pensable to  a  young  lawyer,  and  had  a  general  circulation 
among  the  profession.  Mr.  Freeman  had  exercised,  practi- 
cally, nearly  all  the  offices  for  which  he  had  prepared  his 
useful  forms.  He  was  a  most  remarkal)lc  man.  He  was 
constantly  at  work  in  the  numerous  offices  he  held,  and  in 
the  preparation  of  books,  from  the  time  he  came  upon  the 
stage,  previous  to  the  Revolution,  to  near  the  close  of  a  very 
long  life.  He  held  the  office  of  Clerk  of  the  Court  in  Cum- 
berland County  forty-six  years,  and  at  the  same  time  was 
Register  of  Probate  twenty-eight  years,  and  Judge  of  Pro- 
bate sixteen  years  coincident  witli  tlie  clerkship.  In  177G, 
he  was  also  ap^^ointed  Postmaster,  wliich  office  ho  liehl  twen- 
ty-nine years,  and  was  all  the  time  an  active  magistrate  ;  for 
twenty-five  years  was  one  of  the  selectmen,  and  most  of  the 
time  chairman ;  was  several  years  President  of  the  Maine 
Bank,  the  first  in  the  State  ;  a  number  of  years  President 
of  the  Board  of  Overseers  of  Bowdoin  College,  aiul  its  Treas- 
urer, and  a  leading  man  in  the  princi})al  benevolent  institu- 


EZEKIEL   WHITMAN.  299 

tions  of  the  town,  and  forty-five  years  deacon  of  the  chnrch. 
It  is  fitthig  and  proper  that  we  should  state  that  he  dis- 
charged all  these  offices  faithfully,  promptly,  and  well. 

Such  was  the  liumljle  apparatus  with  which  our  eminent 
lawyers  began  their  career :  no  books  of  American  reports 
had  then  been  published  in  this  country,  unless  we  except 
Mr.  Justice  Washington's  first  volume  of  his  Virginia  Re- 
ports, 1798,  and  no  elementary  works  except  republications 
of  a  few  English  books.  The  principles  of  practice  were 
unsettled,  and  the  application  of  the  common  law  had  to  be 
adapted  to  our  new  and  varied  and  peculiar  institutions. 
The  first  elemcntauy  book  published  by  an  American  author 
was  Judge  Sullivan's  History  of  Land  Titles,  in  1801.  Cole- 
man and  Gaines's  Reports,  New  York,  appeared  in  1804 ; 
Day's  in  Connecticut  the  same  year ;  and  the  first  volume  of 
the  Massachusetts  Reports  not  until  1805. 

One  consequence  of  this  dearth  of  authorities  was  brev- 
ity in  arguments  and  pleadings  :  they  seldom  exceeded  half 
an  hour  cither  to  the  jury  or  the  court,  and  were  occupied 
in  a  close  and  direct  application  of  the  testimony  and  the 
law  to  the  case  without  amplification  and  tedious  repetition. 
Chief  Justice  Parsons  was  particularly  rigid  in  repressing 
any  discursive  displays  of  rhetoric :  he  wished  to  confine  the 
advocate  to  points  bearing  on  the  case.  .He  did  not  need 
the  enlightenment  of  an  argument,  and  often  prepared  his 
opinions  in  advance  of  the  argument.  One  pf  these  occa- 
sions occurred  in  a  case  of  Mr.  Whitman's :  after  the  oppos- 
ing counsel  had  finished  his  argument,  Judge  Parsons  called 
on  Mr.  Whitman  to  reply.  As  he  arose,  he  whispered  to  his 
associate,  "  It  is  of  no  use  to  argue  the  case,  for  the  old  fel- 
low has  got  his  opinion  already  drawn  up,  in  his  pocket." 
And  so  it  afterwards  appeared.  Judge  Parsons  was  himself 
an  example  of  the  rule  he  wished  to  enforce.  His  son,  in 
his  memoirs  of  liim,  says,   "  His  arguments  were  always 


300  EZEKIEL   WHITMAN. 

Tcry  brief.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  he  never  exceeded  an 
hour.  Usually  he  was  much  less  than  an  hour  ;  and  I  have 
heard,  from  good  authority,  that  he  was  less  than  half  an 
hour  oftener  than  he  was  more."  Of  his  manner,  his  son 
thus  speaks :  "  There  was  no  studied  beginning  nor  ending, 
nothing  of  the  manner,  or  the  tricks,  or  the  graces  of  the 
orator.  His  business  was  to  persuade  those  twelve  men  of 
the  truth  of  certain  propositions ;  and  he  did  his  work  in 
the  most  direct,  the  plainest,  and  the  simplest  way." 

In  September,  1709,  Mr.  Whitman  moved  to  New  Glouces- 
ter. Samuel  Thacher  had  practiced  about  two  years  in  that 
place :  his  removal  to  Warren,  in  September,  1799,  left  a 
vacancy  for  Mr.  Whitman.  When  at  Turner,  he  was  the 
only  lawyer  in  what  now  constitutes  the  county  of  Oxford, 
except  Judah  Dana  at  Fryeburg.  On  the  31st  of  October 
of  that  year,  he  married  Hannah,  a  daughter  of  Gushing 
Mitchell  of  East  Bridgcwatcr,  and  sister  of  his  legal  instruc- 
tor, Nahum  Mitchell.  She  was  born  Feb.  2,  1781,  and  died 
March  28, 1852,  depriving  him  of  the  society  of  an  aifection- 
ate  companion  of  more  than  llfty-two  years  of  close  and  fond 
alliance.  By  her  he  had  three  children,  a  son  and  two 
daughters. 

Mr.  Whitman's  business  and  reputation  as  a  lawyer,  and 
his  popularity  as  a  man,  continued  to  increase,  so  as  to 
encourage  him  to  enter  upon  a  larger  field  of  operation.  In 
January,  1807^  he  estaljlished  himself  in  Portland,  the  larg- 
est town  and  the  principal  place  of  commercial  business  in 
the  District.  Here  he  entered  upon  a  very  extensive  prac- 
tice, enjoying  the  confidence  of  the  community,  and  sharing 
the  best  business  with  Mellen,  who,  a  few  months  before, 
moved  to  Portland  from  Biddelbrd,  Longfellow,  Orr,  and 
Hopkins.  Several  bright  luminaries  of  the  Cunil)crland  Bar 
had  been  withdrawn  ;  Parker,  ajtpointed  to  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  and  moved  in  IHOO  to  Boston  ;  Chase,  who 


EZEKIEL    WHITMAN.  301 

had  the  largest  practice  of  any  lawyer  at  the  Cumberlana 
Bar,  died  August  10,  1806,  at  the  age  of  forty-five  ;  and 
Symmes,  but  a  little  later,  January  7, 1807,  at  the  same  age. 
The  removal  of  these  distinguished  men  left  large  spaces  to 
be  filled  ;  and  those  who  came  to  supply  them  were  fully 
equal  to  the  demand.  Mr.  Symmes  was  not  only  a  lawyer 
in  the  first  class,  but  an  ingenious  advocate  and  a  brilliant 
scholar.  It  was  told  us  by  one  of  his  students,  who  says  he 
kneiv,  that  "  great  confidence  was  felt  in  his  opinions  on  all 
questions,  and  especially  on  legal  questions.  I  know  that 
the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court  used  to  consult  him  on 
making  up  some  of  their  opinions."  His  wit,  too,  and  quick- 
ness of  repartee,  added  to  his  agreeable  qualities. 

Theophilus  Parsons  received  his  appointment  of  Chief 
Justice,  as  successor  to  Chief  Justice  Dana,  in  the  spring  of 
180G,  and  held  his  first  term  at  York,  in  this  State,  in  July, 
but  did  not,  in  that  year,  come  further  east.  At  the  May 
term,  1807,  he  presided  at  Cumberland  for  the  first  time, 
having  Sewall  and  Thacher  his  associates.  He  gave  opin- 
ions in  every  case  reported,  but  one,  which  were  elaborate 
and  exhaustive  of  the  subject.  The  business  of  Portland  in 
1806  and  1807  was  very  large  :  many  ships  of  heavy  burden 
were  owned  here,  and  the  town  was  rapidly  increasing  in 
substantial  tokens  of  wealth  and  prosperity.  Lawyers  par- 
took of  the  genial  gale.  The  entries  of  civil  actions  for 
these  two,  and  the  two  following  years,  were  larger  than  they 
had  ever  been,  or  were  ever  after  :  in  1806,  they  were  one 
thousand  six  hundred  and  seventy-eight ;  in  1807,  two  thou- 
sand four  hundred  and  twenty-two  ;  in  1808,  two  thousand 
two  hundred  and  ninety-three  ;  in  1809,  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  and  fifty-five.  In  the  latter  part  of  1807,  numer- 
ous failures  took  place,  in  consequence  of  the  restrictive 
policy  of  the  government  in  the  embargo  and  non-intercourse 
measures,  and  suits  for  the  security  of  pro])erty  by  attach- 


302  EZEKIEL  WHITMAN. 

ment  were  greatly  multiplied.  Mr.  Whitman  was  accus- 
tomed to  make  over  one  hundred  entries  a  term.  At  that 
time,  there  was  no  exemption  of  property  from  attachment, 
and  it  was  often  the  case  that  the  last  bed  was  taken  from 
under  a  man's  family  ;  and  many  of  our  merchants,  who  had 
lived  in  luxury,  were,  by  a  reversal  of  fortune,  without  their 
fault,  deprived,  by  the  execrable  law  of  debtor  and  creditor, 
of  the  humblest  articles  of  necessity. 

Mr.  Whitman's  name  appears  in  the  first  volume  of  Mas- 
sachusetts Reports,  1805,  although  he  had  been  at  the  bar 
but  six  years,  and  never  ceased  to  be  represented  in  those 
valuable  records  of  jurisprudence,  and  those  of  Maine,  on 
questions  of  high  importance,  until  his  final  retirement  from 
the  bench  in  1848.  The  quality  of  Mr.  Whitman's^  mind 
was  clear,  solid,  and  practical ;  his  judgment  was  cool  and 
impartial,  and  his  perceptions  of  the  true  and  the  false  were 
quick  and  keen.  He  stripped  every  cause  with  which  he 
was  concerned  of  its  shams  and  disguises,  and  held  it  up  in 
the  light  of  naked,  simple  truth. 

In  his  arguments  he  presented  the  material  ])oints  of  the 
case  with  great  clearness  and  force,  without  any  rhetorical 
display,  or  any  amplitude  of  language.  It  might  be  said  of 
him,  as  Prof.  Parsons  said  of  his  father's  elocution,  "  His 
strength  lay  in  his  reasoning.  But  there  Avas  an  actual,  and, 
I  rather  think,  a  studied  absence  of  all  appearance  of  elo- 
quence, and  even  of  technical  logic."  "  It  was,  as  I  believe, 
his  opinion  that  eloquence  is  a  great  hindrance  to  a  lawyer, 
and  of  no  great  value  anywhere."  In  this  latter  judgment, 
however,  we  do  not  concur. 

Mr.  Whitman  always  had  great  weight  with  the  jury  from 
his  calm,  quiet,  and  candid  manner.  He  never  attempted 
to  dazzle  their  minds  or  darken  their  understandings.'  He 
made  no  show  :  he  treated  the  case  simply,  and  talked  with 
the  jury  as  though  he   was  a  friend,  endeavoring  to  satisfy 


EZEKIEL    WHITxAIAN.  303 

them  as  to  the  real  merits  of  the  pendhig  controversy,  and 
thus  disarmed  prejudice,'  if  any  existed,  and  conciliated 
their  favorable  consideration  of  his  positions.  His  tall  and 
manly  figure,  his  honest  and  intelligent  countenance,  gave 
great  force  and  power  to  his  addresses  to  the  jury.  His  ear- 
ly associates  at  the  bar  were  also  men  of  fine  personal  appear- 
ance. Mellen  and  Chase,  as  well  as  himself  and  General 
Fessenden,  were  over  six  feet  in  height,  Judge  Thacher  and 
Or'r  were  quite  or  nearly  that :  Symmes,  Davis,  Judge  Par- 
ker, and  Longfellow  were  more  compactly  built,  but  were 
all  men  of  easy,  graceful  manners,  of  readiness  of  speech 
and  well-endowed  minds.  It  would  be  very  difficult  to  point 
to  a  bar  of  its  size  anywhere,  which  contained  at  that  time 
more  eminent  lawyers  or  polished  gentlemen. 

Mr.  Whitman  was  successfully  employed  in  advocating 
claims  of  our  merchants  under  the  treaty  with  Spain  of  1819, 
and  attended  upon  the  commissioners  at  Washington  for 
that  purpose.  He  also  was  engaged  for  clients  under  the 
convention  with  France  of  July,  1831,  by  which  France 
appropriated  twenty-five  millions  of  francs  to  pay  American 
claims.  I  have  a  printed  argument  of  his  in  the  case  of 
Cobb  and  Clapp  of  Portland,  presented  to  the  Commission- 
ers, occupying  twenty-one  octavo  pages.  The  claim  was  for 
the  seizure  of  the  cargo  of  the  ship  North  America  at  Ant- 
werp, by  the  French.  The  argument  was  able  and  suc- 
cessful. 

In  1832,  he  had  printed  for  his  own  use  and  private  dis- 
tribution, an  octavo  pamphlet  of  forty-four  pages,  contain- 
ing a  genealogical  account  of  the  numerous  descendants  of 
John  Whitman,  their  first  American  ancestor,  prepared  by 
him.  This  was  a  valuable  contribution  to  that  department 
of  knowledge. 

Mr.  Whitman's  large  and  important  business  drew  arouiul 
him  numerous  students,  desirous  of  imbibing  his  spirit  and 


304  EZEKIEL   WHITMAN. 

instruction.  Among  these  were  Simon  Grccnlcaf,  long  a 
popular  advocate  at  the  Cumberland  bar,  and  proi'essor  in  the 
law  school  at  Cambridge  ;  Josiali  W.  Mitchell  of  Freeport ; 
Albion  K.  Parris,  afterwards  Representative  and  Senator  in 
Congress,  Governor  of  the  State,  and  Judge  of  the  Supreme 
Court  of  Maine  ;  Levi  Whitman  of  Norway  ;  Levi  StowcU 
of  Paris  ;  John  Musscy,  John  P.  Boyd,  and  Natlviniel  Deer- 
ing  of  Portland, 

The  appreciation  in  which  Mr.  Whitman  was  held  in  his 
county  is  shown  in  the  effort  of  his  friends  to  bring  him  into 
political  life.  In  180G,  Gen.  Peleg  Wadsworth,  who  had 
represented  the  Cumberland  District  in  Congress  fourteen 
years,  declined  a  re-election,  and  Mr.  Whitman,  then  resid- 
ing in  New  Gloucester,  was  selected  as  the  candidate  of  the 
Federal  party,  against  Major  Daniel  Ilslcy,  a  staunch  Dem- 
ocrat of  the  Jefferson  school,  and  father  of  Isaac  Ilsley,  the 
collector  of  the  port.  Mr.  Ilsley  was  elected  by  a  small 
majority :  the  vote  of  Portland  being  for  Mr.  Wliitman  three 
hundred  and  seventeen,  for  Mr.  Ilsley  two  hundred  and 
twenty-six. 

At  the  next  election  for  member  of  Congress  in  1808, 
political  excitement  ran  high  :  the  embargo,  laid  December, 
1807,  had  been  destructive  of  the  commercial  interests  of 
this  section  of  the  country,  and  the  administration  had 
become  unpopular.  The  same  persons  were  candidates  for 
Congress,  and  Mr.  Whitman  was  elected  by  about  three 
hundred  majority  :  the  vote  in  Portland,  where  both  candi- 
dates then  lived,  stood, —  for  Whitman,  five  hundred  and 
thirty-six,  Ilsley,  two  hundred  and  twenty. 

Tlicre  were  three  sessions  of  Congress  during  this  term  ; 
the  first  commenced  May  22,  180U,  and  held  thirty-six  days. 
It  was  the  first  year  of  Mr.  Madison's  administration  ;  and 
this  extra  session  was  called  to  make  some  modifications  in 
the  restrictive  laws  u])on  commerce,  in  consc(piencc  of   Mr. 


EZEKIEL  WHITMAN.  305 

Erskinc's  unfortunate  and  unrecognized  arrangement  for  a 
relaxation  on  the  part  of  Great  J3ritain,  of  her  orders  in 
council.  The  next  session  commenced  on  the  27tli  day  of 
November,  1809,  and  continued  to  May  1, 1810.  The  third 
session  commenced  December  3,  1810,  and  continued  to 
MarcJi  4,  1811.  Tiie  sul>jects  which  occupied  the  attention 
of  Congress  principally  during  these  sessions,  were  the  rup- 
ture of  negotiations  with  Great  Britain,  on  the  refusal  of 
that  power  to  carry  into  effect  the  arrangement  entered  into 
with  her  ambassador,  Mr.  Erskine  ;  the  quarrel  with  his  suc- 
cessor, Mr.  Jackson  ;  the  renewal  of  the  non-intercourse  sys- 
tem ;  and  subjects  connected  with  our  commercial  relations 
with  the  two  great  belligerent  nations.  Tlie  question  of 
re-establishing  the  National  Bank,  removal  of  the  seat  of 
government  to  Piiiladelphia,  and  the  admission  of  Louisiana 
to  the  Union,  which  Avas  opposed  by  Josiah  Quincy  in  an  able 
and  eloquent  speech,  and  by  other  Federalists,  —  were  also 
topics  of  excited  discussion.  Mr.  Whitman  acted  with  the 
Federal  party,  but  does  not  appear  to  have  taken  an  active 
part  in  debate.  Hcj  Josiah  Quincy,  and  William  Bailies  of 
West  Bridgewater  are  believed  to  be  tlie  only  surviving 
members  of  that  Congress.  Mr.  Quincy  is  over  ninety,  the 
other  two  in  their  eighty-seventh  year,  in  1862. 

At  the  election  for  the  Twelfth  Congress,  which  took  place 
in  November,  1810,  the  contest  was  severe,  between  Mr. 
Whitman  and  William  Widgery.  The  result  was  a  precise 
equality,  each  party  having  one  thousand  six  hundred  and 
thirty-nine  votes.  Scattering,  one  hundred  and  lifty-one.  In 
Portland,  the  residence  of  l)oth  caiulidatcs,  the  vote  was, — 
Whitman,  three  hundred  and  Ibrtv-seven,  Widgery,  two 
hundred  and  forty-nine.  On  the  next  trial,  in  April,  Mr. 
Widgery  was  elected  by  a  small  majority. 

Mr.  Whitman  returned  well  pleased  to  his  profession,  for 
he  had  no  taste  for  tiiese   protracted  absences  from  a  home 


306  EZEKIEL    WHITMAN. 

to  which  ho  was  devotedly  attached :  he  preferred  tlie  quiet 
pursuits  of  })rivatc  life  to  the  agitations  and  acrimony  of 
politics.  During  the  seven  years,  1811  to  1817,  he  devoted 
himself  to  the  practice  of  law,  having  a  very  large  business  ; 
the  amount  of  which,  and  the  estimation  in  which  he  was 
held  by  his  fellow  citizens,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that 
in  this  period  he  argued  at  the  law  terras  in  Cumberland 
County  more  than  half  of  all  the  causes  which  were  pre- 
sented to  the  court. 

In  1815  and  181(),  he  was  a  member  of  the  Executive 
Council  of  Massachusetts  ;  and  in  1816,  a  member  of  the 
Convention  held  at  Brunswick  on  the  subject  of  the  separa- 
tion of  Maine  from  Massachusetts, —  which  was  to  take  place 
on  the  event  that  a  majority  of  five-ninths  of  the  votes  of 
the  people  pronounced  in  favor  of  separation.  This  propor- 
tion was  not  obtained,  the  vote  being  eleven  thousand  nine 
hundred  and  twenty-seven  in  favor,  and  ten  thousand  five 
hundred  and  thirty-nine  against  separation  ;  still,  the  Con- 
vention met,  and  by  a  peculiar  construction  put  upon  the 
language  of  the  act,  taking  the  majorities  of  the  corpora- 
tions instead  of  the  individual  votes,  the  Convention,  by  a 
small  majority,  decided  that  the  requisite  condition  was 
complied  with,  and  thereupon  raised  committees  to  draft  a 
Constitution,  and  to  apply  for  admission  as  a  State.  It  is 
unnecessary  to  say  that  this  erroneous  and  violent  construc- 
tion was  wholly  discountenanced  and  repudiated  by  Mr. 
Whitman  ;  and  a  minority  of  the  Convention  signed  a  pro- 
test against  the  proceeding,  and  had  it  entered  upon  the  rec- 
ords, declaring  "  the  exercise  of  further  powers  to  be  usurp- 
ation." The  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  sustained  the 
views  of  the  minority,  and  resolved,  "  that  the  ])owers  of  the 
Brunswick  Convention  have  ceased,"  William  King  was 
President  of  the  Convention,  having  ninety-seven  votes  to 
eighty-five  given  to  Mr.  Whitman, 


EZEKIEL  WHITMAN.  307 

In  181,6,  Mr.  Whitman  was  again  elected  Representative 
to  Congress,  and  re-elected  for  the  two  following  terms  of 
1819  and  1821,  the  Fifteenth  to  the  Seventeenth  Congresses. 

His  experience  in  political  life,  the  soundness  of  his  judg- 
ment, and  the  integrity  of  his  character,  gave  him  influence 
in  the  councils  of  the  nation.  The  years  in  which  he  held 
his  seat  in  Congress  were  among  the  most  critical  and  im- 
portant in  our  history.  When  he  entered  Congress  for  the 
second  time,  1817,  the  nation  was  but  twenty-seven  years 
old.  It  had  passed  tlu'ough  severe  trials  :  a  sharp  and  expen- 
sive war  with  a  powerful  nation,  preceded  by  harsli  commer- 
cial restrictions,  had  just  been  honorably  concluded:  a  new 
course  of  policy,  growing  out  of  the  altered  state  of  the 
country,  had  to  be  instituted.  It  will  be  sufficient,  on  this 
occasion,  to  indicate  some  of  the  prominent  measures  pro- 
posed. These  were, —  Internal  Improvements,  a  Bankrupt 
Law,  Revolutionary  Pensions,  Renewal  of  the  Charter  of 
the  United  States  Bank,  and  a  Tariff  having  reference  to  the 
important  question  of  giving  protection  to  our  manufactur- 
ing industry,  which  had  begun  to  extend  over  the  liiiddle 
and  northeastern  States,  and  was  employing  a  large  amount 
of  capital.  Tiie  Florida  question,  involving  the  occupation 
of  that  territory  under  the  Spanish  rule,  and  the  attack  of 
Gen.  Jackson  upon  the  Fortress  of  Pcnsacola  in  pursuit  of 
the  Seminole  Indians ;  and  the  execution  of  the  two  Eng- 
lishmen, Arbutluiot  and  xVmbristcr, — led  to  long  and  acrimo- 
nious discussions,  in  whicli  Mr.  Wliitman  took  a  conspicuous 
part.  But  the  most  exciting  and  important  questions,  which 
occupied  much  time  in  1810  and  1820,  grew  out  of  tlie 
attempts  to  restrict  slavery.  The  first  important  battle  on 
this  great  issue  was  then  fought.  It  commenced  by  the 
introduction  of  the  proposition  to  amend  the  l)ill  for  the 
admission  of  Missouri,  by  inserting  a  clause  j)r()liil)itiiig  slav- 
ery in  the  State.     Maine,  in  181'J,  having  a}>})licd  for  admit;- 


308  EZEKIEL   WHITMAN. 

sion  as  a  State,  a  bill  for  the  purpose  passed  the  House  in 
the  usual  course.  Ou  reaching  the  Senate,  it  was  amended 
by  a  clause  admitting  Missouri  without  restriction,  which, 
after  a  most  able  and  ardent  debate,  passed  the  Senate,  Feb- 
ruary 15,  1820,  —  yeas,  twenty-three;  nays,  twenty-one. 
Mr.  Mcllen  of  Portland,  and  Mr.  Otis  of  IJoston,  the  Sena- 
tors from  Massachusetts,  strenuously  opposed  the  unnatural 
connection.  In  the  House,  the  vote  on  striking  out  the  restric- 
tion from  the  Missouri  bill  was  equally  close,  ninety  to  eighty- 
seven.  Mr.  Holmes  and  Mark  L.  Hill  alone,  from  Maine, 
voted  in  the  affirmative  ;  Mr.  Whitman  and  the  other  three 
representatives  from  Maine  voted  against  removing  the 
restriction,  and  Mr.  AVhitman  spoke  earnestly  against  it. 
Only  twelve  members  from  the  Free  States  voteti  to  strike 
out  the  restriction.  The  Southern  vote  was  unanimous. 
Rufus  King  of  New  York,  as  Mr.  Quincy  observes  in  his 
Life  of  Adams,  "  delivered  two  of  the  most  well-considered 
and  powerful  speeches  that  this  Missouri  question  elicited." 
Mr.  Adams  in  his  Diary  says,  "  I  heard  Mr.  King  on  what  is 
called  the  Missouri  question.  His  manner  was  dignified, 
grave,  earnest,  but  not  rapid  or  vehement.  He  laid  down 
the  position  of  the  natural  liberty  of  man,  and  its  incom- 
patibility with  slavery  in  any  shape :  he  also  questioned  the 
constitutional  right  of  the  President  and  Senate  to  make 
the  Louisiana  treaty.  The  great  slave-holders  in  tlie  House 
gnawed  their  lips  and  clenched  their  fists  as  they  heard  him." 
Again,  he  says,  "  They  call  his  speeches  seditious  and  inllam- 
matory."  The  result  was  produced  by  the  adroitness  of  Mr. 
Clay,  and  some  other  prominent  men,  in  proposing  and 
enforcing  the  compromise  line  of  thirty-six  degrees  and 
thirty  minutes,  which  carried  members  from  the  Free  States 
sufficient  to  adopt  the  measure.  Mr.  Adams  on  this  result 
remarks,  "  In  this  instance  tlie  Slave  States  have  clung 
together  in  one  unbroken  phalanx,  and  have  been  victorious 


EZEKIEL  WHITMAN.  309 

by  means  of  accomplices  and  deserters  from  the  ranks  of 
Freedom.  Time  only  can  show  whether  the  contest  may 
ever,  with  equal  advantage,  be  renewed." 

Mr.  Whitman's  opinion  then  was,  that  the  North  ought  to 
liave  stood  lirm  and  united  against  sanctioning  the  introduc- 
tion of  slavery  in  Missouri  ;  and  has  expressed  his  belief, 
that,  had  such  l)een  the  case,  the  question  which  has  been 
productive  of  so  many  evils,  and  such  unmitigated  calamity 
to  the  country,  would  have  been  successfully  terminated. 
Mr.  Whitman  also  took  an  active  part  in  the  discussions  on 
the  tariff  bill :  he  advocated  the  reduction  of  the  enormous 
duty  of  ten  cents  a  gallon  on  molasses,  but  without  effect ; 
and  moved  successfully  an  amendment  to  reduce  the  duty 
on  printed  books  from  thirty-five  to  twenty  per  cent.,  ad 
valorem.  He  offered  other  amendments,  and  entered  into 
the  debate  with  earnestness  and  ability  by  tlie  side  of  his 
friend,  Nathaniel  Silsbee,  the  able  commercial  member 
from  Salem,  Massachusetts.  In  1818,  he  delivered  an  able 
speech  of  about  an  hour  in  length  in  favor  of  a  bankrupt 
law,  which  failed  by  a  vote,  eighty-two  to  seventy.  Although 
Mr.  Whitman  frequently  spoke  on  important  subjects,  he 
was  so  careless  of  fame  that  he  never  took  the  trouble  of 
preparing  reports  of  his  speeches  for  the  press.  On  the 
exciting  question  growing  out  of  the  invasion  of  Florida  by 
Gen.  Jackson,  I  was  informed  by  his  colleague,  the  late 
Joseph  Dane  of  Kennebunk,  that  Mr.  Whitman  made  one 
of  the  speeches  which  that  agitating  measure  drew  forth, 
that  he  literally  stormed  the  character  of  Jackson,  and 
denounced  the  act  as  arbitrary,  and  a  violation  of  neutral 
and  national  law.  His  friends  urged  him  to  prepare  his 
remarks  for  tlie  pivss,  but  he  declined  doing  it. 

On  the  4th  of  Fcl^niary,  1822,  the  new  State  of  Maine 
])assed  an  act  establishing  a  court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the 
State*,  to  consist  of  a  chief  justice   and   two  associate  jus- 


310  ezekieI  whitman. 

tices.  Gov.  Parris  constituted  the  court  by  tlie  appointment 
of  Mr.  Whitman  chid' justice,  and  Samuel  E.  Smith,  after- 
wards Governor  of  the  State,  and  David  Perham  of  Penob- 
scot County,  associate  justices.  Mr.  Wliitman,  in  conse- 
quence of  this  appointment,  resigned  his  seat  in  Congress, 
and  retired  from  political  life,  lie  continued  to  discharge 
the  duties  of  principal  judge  in  the  Common  Pleas  with 
great  fidelity  and  ability,  with  unimpeached  integrity,  and 
to  the  public  approbation,  until  December,  1841,  when  he 
was  appointed  chief  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court,  as  suc- 
cessor to  Chief  Justice  Weston. 

At  the  head  of  the  highest  judicial  tribunal  of  the  State, 
Chief  Justice  Whitman  devoted  himself  with  untiring  dil- 
igence, and  undiminished  powers  of  mind,  to  the  arduous 
duties  of  the  office  for  a  period  of  nearly  seven  years.  He 
resigned  the  office  in  October,  1848,  at  the  age  of  nearly 
seventy-three,  while  yet  in  vigor  and  unimpaired  intellectual 
strength,  the  result  of  a  uniform  system  of  temperate  hab- 
its, self-restraint,  and  moderation  of  life.  He  had  held  the 
office  of  judge  twenty-six  and  a  half  years,  and  his  retire- 
ment from  the  bench  was  regarded  as  a  public  misfortune. 

No  man  ever  presided  in  a  court  of  justice  with  a  sounder 
judgment,  with  more  calm  self-possession  and  dignity  of 
deportment.  Every  party  which  appeared  in  his  court  was 
allowed  full  opportunity  to  exhibit  his  case  ;  but  he  always 
felt  it  his  duty  to  let  the  jury  understand  clearly  and  dis- 
tinctly what  were  his  views  on  the  evidence  submitted, 
which  he  fully  presented  to  them.  He  endeavored,  iu  the 
conducting  of  cases  before  him,  to  contlnc  the  counsel  to 
the  true  j)oints  in  issue  ;  and  when  these  were  unsupported 
by  testimony,  he  would  so  rule  as  to  al)ridgc  the  lal)or  of 
parties,  save  the  time  of  the  court,  and  ])romote  the  cause 
of  justice.  Sophistry,  and  fraud,  and  cunning  shifts,  found 
no  encouragement  and  no  shelter  under  his  administration  ; 


EZEKIEL   WHITMAN.  311 

for  his  own  mind  was  free  from  all  gitile,  or  equivocation, 
or  pretension.  Although  naturally  of  a  very  ardent,  and 
perhaps  excitable  temperament,  he  had  early  acquired  a  com- 
plete control  over  himself;  and  his  deportment  upon  the 
bench  was  calm,  patient,  and  imperturbable,  except  when 
attempts  were  made  to  practice  collusion, deception,  or  fraud, 
when  his  latent  feeling  would  manifest  itself  in  a  manner 
not  to  be  misunderstood. 

The  judicial  opinions  of  Cliief  Justice  Whitman  are  con- 
tained in  nine  volumes  of  the  Maine  Reports,  from  the  twen- 
ty-first to  the  twenty-ninth,  inclusive,  reported  by  Mr.  John 
Shepley.  They  are  characterized  by  great  simplicity  and 
plainness  of  language,  and  directness  of  application  to  the 
real  points  in  issue.  They  are  remarkaljly  free  from  fine- 
spun verbosity,  or  attempts  at  ornamentation.  There  is  no 
mistaking  the  law  which  it  is  the  design  of  the  court  to 
establish.  In  a  note  to  decisions  in  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Maine,  published  in  the  Law  Reporter,  1848,  volume  eleven, 
])agc  seventy-two,  it  is  said,  "  It  was  with  melancholy  inter- 
est that  the  Bar  remembered  that  this  was  the  last  law  term 
which  the  learned  and  venerable  Chief  Justice  would  hold 
in  the  county.  Having  presided  in  this  court  and  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas  for  twenty-six  years,  with  a  dignity  and 
impartiality  rarely  equaled,  he  will  this  year,  by  the  expir- 
ation of  his  Constitutional  term,  retire  from  the  bench.  The 
lessons  of  soundjuridical  knowledge,  clear,  practical  wisdom, 
and  impartial  justice,  which  have  so  long  flowed  from  liis 
lips,  giving  force  to  truth  and  confidence  to  virtue,  will  never 
again  be  heard."  As  the  expression  of  cotemporaneous 
opinion  may  be  considered  the  fairest  exponent  of  the  esti- 
mation in  whicu  Judge  Whitman  was  held  by  the  community 
in  wiiich  tlic  best  })art  of  his  life  was  spent,  we  again  offer 
the  testimonial  of  the  Law  Reporter  of  January,  l84lt,  in 
an  article  on  "  Judicial  Changes  in  Maine."     The  writer 


312  EZEKIEL   WHITMAN. 

says,  "  Judge  Whitnian  is  nearly  the  last  of  the  old-school 
lawyers  among  lis ;  and  he  retains  more  of  the  })lainness 
and  simplicity  which  we  associate  with  the  earlier  time  than 
any  we  arc  acquainted  with.  Born  in  the  year  in  which 
our  inde})cndcnce  was  declared,  he  is  a  connecting  link  be- 
tween the  present  and  the  Revolutionary  age,  and  presents 
an  admirable  specimen  of  the  union  of  the  two.  No  judge 
in  our  day  has  presided  in  the  courts  with  more  calm  dignity, 
more  independence,  firmness,  and  integrity,  than  Judge 
Whitman.  He  commanded  on  the  bench  universal  respect ; 
no  restlessness  or  impetuosity  disturl)ed  the  uniform  current 
of  his  deportment.  As  deep  waters  flow  calmly  and  strongly, 
without  ripple  or  commotion,  so  the  vigorous  and  self-poised 
mind  conducts  its  operations  without  noise  or  turbulence." 

These  testimonials  indicate  the  public  favor  which  waited 
on  his  judicial  life.  We  believe  they  were  well  deserved 
and  uniform  during  the  whole  period.  And  yet  he  was  no 
less  popular  as  a  man.  Without  any  of  the  arts  which  are 
practiced  by  those  who  seek  attention  and  applause  in  the 
community,  he  was  attended  by  both.  An  eccentric  lawyer 
in  Windham  in  his  county,  well  remembered  at  our  bar, 
once  said  to  him,  "  How  is  it.  Whitman,  that  you  contrive 
to  make  yourself  so  popular,  when  you  go  along,  taking  no 
notice  of  anybody ;  while  I  get  no  popularity,  although  I 
bow  to  everybody  ? "  This  was  a  peculiarity  of  Judge  Whit- 
man, that  in  passing  through  the  streets  he  would  scarcely 
recognize  his  acquaintances,  and  had  none  of  that  address 
which  wins  so  many  sunshine  friends.  His  was  the  popular- 
ity which  Lord  Mansfield,  in  his  great  speech,  said  he  desired, 
and  which  he  admiraltly  described  as  "  that  which  follows, 
not  that  which  is  run  after  —  that  popularity  which,  sooner 
or  later,  never  fails  to  do  justice  to  the  pursuit  of  noble  ends 
by  noble  means." 

Without  pretension  or  courtly  arts  of  any  kind,  he  was 


EZEKIEL    WHITMAN.  313 

always  gentle,  affectionate,  and  simple  in  his  manners  and 
conversation,  never  thrusting  himself  into  notice  on  any 
occasion,  but  always  sustaining  himself  when  pressed,  and 
coming  up  to  any  required  emergency.  He  was  willing  to 
wait  for  tiiat  approljation  which  surely  rewards  the  efforts  of 
an  honorable  and  useful  life. 

He  read  much,  but  was  never  fond  of  writing.  The  only 
work  he  ever  prepared  for  the  press  was  a  genealogical 
account  of  the  "  Descendants  of  John  Whitman,"  his  ances- 
tor, and  the  first  immigrant  of  the  name  to  this  country, 
1635.  This  was  printed  in  a  pamphlet  of  forty-four  pages, 
with  biographical  sketches,  for  private  distribution. 

On  retiring  from  the  bench.  Judge  Whitman  engaged  in 
those  quiet  and  peaceful  pursuits  which  became  his  age 
and  his  unambitious  habits.  Study,  and  gentle  labor  in  his 
garden,  sufiicient  to  keep  up  the  tone  and  vigor  of  his  con- 
stitution, gave  repose  and  serenity  to  his  mind.  In  March, 
1852,  occurred  one  of  the  severest  afflictions  which  had  ever 
befallen  him,  the  sudden  death  of  his  wife,  who  was  struck 
with  paralysis,  and  died  in  a  few  hours.  He  had  lived  with 
her  in  kind  and  affectionate  companionship  near  fifty-three 
years.  She  had  brought  up  her  three  children,  all  of  whom 
were  born  within  five  and  a  half  years  of  her  marriage,  and 
who  survived  her.  She  had  passed  with  him  through  priva- 
tions and  trials  to  scenes  of  independence  and  comfort,  and 
had  made  for  liim  a  home  of  unalloyed  domestic  happiness. 
Her  death  made  that  home  desolate,  and,  not  long  after, 
yearning  for  the  land  of  his  birth  and  early  life,  he  removed 
in  October,  1852,  to  East  Bridgewater,  his  native  place,  to 
repose  and  find  relief  in  the  associations  of  his  early  years. 
There  he  still  lives,  tranquil  and  serene,  remarkably  exempt 
from  the  sharp  trials  of  old  age,  waiting  for  the  summons 
21 


314  LEONARD    MORSE  :    JOSIAH    W.  MITCHELL. 

which  comes  inevitably  to  a'll,  to  appear  at  the  tribunal  of 
the  final  judge. 

"  Rectius  occupat 
Nomcn  beati,  qui  Deorum 
Muneribus  sapienter  uti." 


LEONARD    MORSE.       1799  —  1815.       JOSIAH    W.  MITCHELL. 

The  same  year,  1799,  wliich  gave  to  our  State  Chief  Jus- 
tice Whitman  at  New  Gloucester,  John  Holmes  at  Alfred, — 
the  first  lawyer  in  that  place, —  witnessed  also  the  coming  of 
Andrew  Greenwood  to  Bath,  John  Park  Little  to  Gorham, 
Bohan  P.  Field  to  North  Yarmouth,  and  Leonard  Morse  to 
Freeport,  being  the  first  persons  who  established  themselves 
in  the  profession  at  those  places.  Three  of  them  graduated 
at  Brown  University  ;  viz.,  Little  in  1794,  Whitman  in  1795, 
and  Holmes  in  179G  ;  Field,  at  Dartmouth,  in  1795. 

Leonard  Morse  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  1796,  with 
Dr.  Woods  of  the  Andover  Institution,  John  Pickering,  and 
Dr.  Jackson  of  Boston.  He  was  born  and  educated  at 
Cambridge,  and  established  himself  in  Freeport  in  1799. 
He  remained  there  until  1815,  pursuing  the  ordinary  duties 
of  the  profession,  without  arriving  at  any  distinction  as  a 
lawyer  or  an  advocate.  His  habits  had  previously  become 
so  bad  that  business  left  him.  He  died  in  1823,  leaving  a 
family.  His  widow  married  a  second  husband,  Simonton, 
and  is  living.     She  was  a  Porter  of  Freeport. 

He  was  succeeded  in  the  profession  there  by  Josiah  W. 
Mitchell,  who  was  the  son  of  Jacob  Mitchell,  and  born  in 
East  Bridgewater,  Massachusetts,  in  1785.  He  was  not  lib- 
erally educated,  but  pursued  his  legal  studies  with  Judge 
Ezekiel  Whitman,  first  in  New  Gloucester  and  then  in 
Portland,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Cumberland 
County  in  1807.     He  had  an  extensive  business  in  Free- 


JOSIAH    W.    MITCHELL  :    JOHN   P.    LITTLE.  315 

port  and  the  neighhoring  towns,  and  was  a  sound  law- 
yer and  good  advocate.  He  died  in  December,  1852, 
suddenly,  leaving  a  wife  and  a  large  family  of  children. 
He  was  twice  married,  first  to  Sally,  a  daughter  of  Oakes 
Angier,  an  able  lawyer  in  West  Bridgewater,  by  whom  he 
had  one  son  and  two  daughters.  His  second  wife  was  the 
widow  of  EUsha  P.  Cutler,  the  eloquent  lawyer  of  North 
Yarmouth,  of  whom  we  speak  in  another  place.  By  her  he 
had  three  sons  and  two  daughters.  Six  of  his  children  and 
his  widow  still  survive.  His  mother  was  also  the  mother  of 
Chief  Justice  Ezekiel  Whitman.  He  represented  the  town 
of  Freeport  in  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts  four 
years ;  viz.,  1812,  1816, 1817,  and  1818.  He  was  a  Federal- 
ist, and  sustained  with  ability  the  policy  of  that  party.  He 
also  represented  his  town,  subsequently,  in  the  Legislature 
of  Maine. 

JOHN    PARK     LITTLE.      1799  —  1809. 

Mr.  Little  was  the  son  of  John  Little  of  Littleton,  Massa- 
chusetts, where  he  was  born.  His  mother's  maiden  name 
was  Park,  from  whom  he  derived  a  portion  of  his  own.  His 
father  cultivated  a  large  farm,  on  which  his  son  was  brought 
up,  until  he  left  the  occupation  for  one  more  congenial  to 
his  taste.  He  graduated  at  Brown  University  in  1794  :  after 
which  lie  pursued  his  legal  studies  in  the  office  of  Timothy 
Bigelow  at  Groton,  who  was  the  legal  instructor  of  several 
prominent  lawyers  in  Maine,  such  as  Samuel  Thatcher  and 
Thomas  Rice.  Probaljly  Mr.  Little  had  charge,  as  some 
other  of  Mr.  Bigelow's  students  had,  of  the  Groton  Academy. 
Mr.  Little  was  admitted  to  practice  in  Massachusetts  in  1799, 
and  immediately  came  to  Gorham.  He  was  the  first,  and 
for  several  years  the  only  lawyer  in  the  town.  So  great  was 
the  opposition  to  the  settlement  of  a  lawyer  in  Gorham,  that 


316  JOHN   p.    LITTLE  :    BOHAN   P.    FIELD. 

the  people  met  after  church,  on  Sunday,  in  the  meeting- 
house, and  voted  ahnost  unanimously  against  Mr.  Little's 
settling  there.  But  he  went,  notwithstanding,  and  proved 
one  of  the  best  citizens  who  ever  settled  in  Gorhara  ;  a  man 
of  great  worth,  very  popular,  and  a  pillar  in  the  cluirch. 
The  same  opposition  existed  to  his  successor.  Col.  Whitte- 
more,  who  also,  ultimately,  became  popular.  He  was  a 
native  of  Gorham. 

We  learn  from  ^h\  Ho})kins,  who  was  his  contemporary, 
that  "  he  was  industrious,  and  attentive  to  the  duties  of  his 
profession.  He  had  an  extensive  practice,  and  enjoyed  the 
full  confidence  of  his  clients  and  his  friends.  He  was  not 
so  much  distinguislied  as  a  lawyer  or  an  advocate,  as  for  his 
private  worth.  He  was  a  man  of  strict  integrity,  and  his 
moral  and  social  virtues  rendered  his  death  a  source  of  grief 
to  an  extensive  circle  of  acquaintances  and  friends,  and  a 
loss  to  the  community." 

Mr.  Little  married  Mary  Jackson  Prescott,  daughter  of 
Judge  Prescott  of  Groton,  by  whom  he  had  one  son,  born  in 
March,  1808,  who  survived  his  father  but  one  year.  Mr. 
Little  died  March  2(3,  1800,  leaving  a  character  without 
reproach.  His  widow  married,  for  a  second  husband,  the 
honorable  and  excellent  Lathrop  Lewis,  and  still  survives, 
in  1862,  in  the  eighty-eighth  year  of  her  age.  She  had  three 
children  by  Mr.  Lewis,  who  are  all  dead.  She  is  erect  and 
vigorous,  walking  regularly  to  church,  and  enjoys  excellent 
health. 

BOHAN     PRENTISS     FIELD.       1700  —  1843. 

Bohan  P.  Field  was  born  in  Gill,  i\rassachusetts,  April  28, 
1774,  and  was  educated  at  Dartmouth  College,  from  wliich 
he  took  his  degree,  in  1795,  with  the  reputation  of  good 
scholarship,  and  a  taste  for  classical  studies,  which  he  retained 


BOHAN   P.  FIELD.  317 

through  life.  He  pursued  his  legal  studies  under  the  care 
of  the  Hon.  .Samuel  Dana  of  Amherst,  New  Hampshire, 
afterwards  a  distinguished  judge  of  that  State.  On  being 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  New  'Hampshire,  he  came  to  North 
Yarmouth,  in  this  State,  in  1799,  and  was  the  first  lawyer 
who  took  up  his  residence  in  that  place.  The  next  year, 
1800,  he  moved  to  Belfast,  and  became  the  pioneer  of  the 
profession  in  that  thriving  town.  Belfast  is  in  the  Waldo 
Patent,  and  was  then  part  of  the  county  of  Hancock.  It 
was  incorporated  in  1773,  and  contained,  in  1800,  but  six 
hundred  and  seventy-four  inhabitants:  it  now  contains,  by 
the  census  of  1860,  five  thousand  five  hundred  and  twenty 
inhabitants.  Mr.  Field  lived  through  the  period  of  its 
growth  from  its  humble  beginning,  forty-three  years,  and 
beheld  it  a  flourishing  commercial  city,  having  contributed, 
by  his  enterprise,  good  judgment,  and  active  exertions,  to 
promote  all  the  interests  of  his  adopted  town. 

On  the  organization  of  the  county  of  Waldo,  in  1827,  Mr. 
Field  was  appointed  chief  justice  of  the  Court  of  Sessions 
for  the  county  by  Gov.  Lincoln,  although  they  were  on  oppo- 
site sides  in  politics  ;  and  continued,  for  a  term  of  ten  years, 
to  discharge  the  duties  of  that  office  with  industry,  and  to 
the  satisfaction  of  the  people  of  the  county. 

He  was  a  well-read  lawyer,  and  his  opinions  were  regard- 
ed as  of  good  authority,  and  entitled  to  much  weight.  He 
rarely,  however,  api)oared  as  an  advocate,  but  when  he  found 
it  necessary  or  expedient  to  address  the  jury,  he  did  it  with 
force  and  clearness,  without  any  display  of  rhetoric,  arguing 
for  the  cause  and  not  for  outside  effect.  He  was  valued,  in 
the  community  where  he  lived,  most  for  his  general  intel- 
ligence, his  integrity  of  character,  and  the  soundness  of  his 
judgment.  The  following  tribute  to  his  memory  is  from 
the  pen  of  Mr.  Williamson  of  Belfast:  in  speaking  of  him  as 
a  magistrate  and  referee,  in  which  capacity  he  was  often  em- 


318  ANDREW   GREENWOOD. 

ployed,  he  says,  "  No  man  entered  on  the  investigation  of 
the  rights  of  parties  freer  from  passion  or  prejudice,  and  no 
one  exercised  a  sounder  judgment.  Hence,  his  decisions 
were  uniformly  correct  and  satisfactory.  Such  was  his 
known  integrity  of  character  rfnd  singleness  of  purpose,  that 
he  received  a  thousand  unsought  tokens  of  public  favor  and 
confidence.  Few  men  ever  died  more  highly  respected  and 
esteemed  by  all  who  knew  him." 
Mr.  Field  died  March  13, 1843,  aged  sixty-nine. 

ANDREW    GREENWOOD.      179  9  —  1816. 

An  ancestor  of  Mr.  Greenwood,  in  the  direct  line,  lived 
at  Norwich,  England,  in  the  time  of  Charles  I.,  and  tradition 
assigns  to  him  the  honorable  posts  of  lieutenant  and  chap- 
lain in  Cromwell's  army.  Nathaniel,  the  son  of  this  Myles 
Greenwood,  was  born  in  England  in  1G31,  and,  before  Crom- 
well had  an  army,  or  thought  of  power,  came  to  this  coun- 
try young,  married  Mary  Allen,  daughter  of  Samuel  Allen 
of  Braintree,  and  died  in  1684.  We  have  an  account  of 
three  sons  left  by  him,  viz,  Samuel,  Isaac,  and  Nathaniel. 
Samuel  was  the  father  of  Isaac  Greenwood,  Hollis  Profes- 
sor of  Mathematics  in  Harvard  College  from  1727  to  1738, 
grandfather  of  John  Greenwood,  who  lived  in  Portland  be- 
fore the  Revolution,  and  great-grandfather  of  the  Rev.  Fran- 
cis William  P.  Greenwood,  late  minister  of  the  Stone  Chapel 
in  Boston.  From  Nathaniel,  another  of  the  three  sons  of 
the  first  American  Nathaniel,  came  Andrew  Greenwood,  the 
subject  of  this  notice.  The  second  Nathaniel  was  twice 
married,  first  to  Elizabeth  Venteman,  by  whom  he  had  seven 
children.  The  youngest  was  Miles,  the  father  of  Andrew, 
who  became  a  wealthy  East  India  merchant  in  Salem  ;  he 
owned  much  shipping  and  some  i)rivateers  in  the  Revolution, 


ANDREW   GREENWOOD.  319 

one  of  which  he  commanded.  He  afterwards  met  with  dis- 
asters by  the  loss  of  vessels  and  cargoes  ;  and,  being  reduced 
in  his  circumstances,  he  became  a  clerk  in  the  Old  Massa- 
chusetts Bank  in  Boston,  and  died  in  that  service.  By  his 
first  wife,  Miss  Hale  of  Medford,  he  had  several  children. 
The  eldest.  Miles,  born  in  Salem,  1769,  died  in  Cincinnati,  in 
1831,  and  was  the  father  of  the  present  Miles  of  that  city, 
the  largest  iron  manufacturer  of  Ohio.  The  second  son, 
Andrew,  the  fifth  in  the  line  of  descent  from  Myles,  the 
Cromwellian  chaplain,  became  the  lawyer  in  Maine. 

Mr.  Greenwood  was  born  in  Salem,  in  1776,  and  was 
educated  at  the  Dummer  Academy  in  Byfield,  under  charge 
of  the  celebrated  Master  Moody,  by  whom  he  was  fitted  for 
college,  expecting  to  be  offered  at  Harvard,  where  six  of  his 
family  had  been  educated,  from  1685  to  1739.  But  the 
reverse  in  his  father's  fortune  turned  the  tide  against  him, 
and  he  was  obliged  to  give  iip  the  further  pursuit  of  his 
classical  studies.  While  alf  the  academy  he  had  made  good 
use  of  his  opportunities,  and  letters  are  in  existence,  from 
Master  Moody,  speaking  in  flattering  terms  of  his  proficiency, 
and  of  his  being  fully  qualified  to  enter  college. 

Disappointed  in  his  hopes  of  a  public  education,  he  did 
not  relinquish  his  plan  of  life  ;  but,  returning  to  Salem,  he 
at  once  commenced  the  study  of  law,  and  pursued  it  through 
the  regular  term,  when,  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  where  he  made  many 
friends ;  but,  his  health  failing,  he  undertook  a  voyage  to 
the  "West  Indies,  to  restore  his  energies,  whence  he  returned 
to  Salem.  Soon  after,  he  came  to  Maine  and  established 
liiraself  at  Bath,  the  first  lawyer  who  occupied  that  field. 
Bath  was  incorporated  in  1781,  and  in  1800  contained  a 
population  of  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  twenty-five, 
.which  has  been  continually  increasing  to  the  present  day. 
It  more   than   doubled  in  the  ten  years   following  1800. 


320  ANDREW   GREENWOOD. 

Among  this  enterprising  people,  having  no  lawyer  nearer, 
on  one  side,  than  Wiscassct,  and  Topsliam  on  the  other,  Mr. 
Greenwood  went,  well  furnished  with  natural  gilts  and 
acquired  knowledge,  to  adorn  the  profession,  and  gain  dis- 
tinction for  himself. 

Soon  after  he  was  seated  here,  a  competitor  entered  on 
the  same  field,  John  Winslow,  son  of  Dr.  Winslow  of  Marsh- 
field,  educated  at  Brown  University,  from  which  he  grad- 
uated in  1795.  He  established  himself  at  Bath  in  1800, 
having  previously  practiced  in  Northborough,  Massachusetts. 
Mr.  Greenwood,  either  thinking  that  the  place  did  not  offer 
sufficient  business  for  two  lawyers,  or  desiring  a  larger  scope, 
went  to  Portland  the  same  year  to  try  his  fortunes  there. 
Here  he  remained  about  two  years,  when  he  returned  to 
Bath  in  the  latter  part  of  1802  or  early  in  1803.  Winslow 
in  turn  took  his  departure  for  Louisiana,  just  then  become  a 
territory  of  the  United  States,  where  he  entered  into  wild 
and  ruinous  speculations,  which  <irushed  the  fortunes  of  his 
father  and  other  friends,  who  had  become  involved  with  him. 
He  died,  a  victim  to  the  climate,  at  an  early  age. 

Mr.  Greenwood  earnestly  engaged  in  his  profession,  which 
bis  age,  experience,  and  ability  enabled  him  to  do  with  suc- 
cess. He  was  not  only  a  good  lawyer,  but  an  eloquent  advo- 
cate :  by  his  ready  wit,  his  easy  manners,  and  graceful  utter- 
ance, he  swayed  an  audience  at  his  will  to  laughter  or  to 
tears.  In  an  argument  to  a  court  or  a  jury,  his  strong 
memory  gave  him  great  facility  of  illustration,  and  the 
application  of  authorities  to  the  points  in  issue.  It  is  said 
that  he  knew  Blackstone's  Commentaries  almost  by  heart, 
and  was  constantly  referred  to  by  members  of  the  bar  for 
facts  and  dates . 

In  addition  to  the  power  which  these  qualities  gave  him, 
he  extended  his  influence  by  his  rare  conversational  talents, 
by  which  his  society  was  courted,  and  l>y  which  he   made 


ANDREW   GREENWOOD.  321 

himself  a  most  agreeable  companion.  But  it  may  well  be 
doubted  whether  these  social  qualities  contributed  to  advance 
him  in  his  profession,  or  to  give  him  an  elevated  position  at 
the  bar.  A  lawyer  can  become  eminently  distinguished  only 
by  an  aljnegation  of  those  agreeable  attributes  which  grace 
the  saloon  or  which  make  a  man  the  coveted  guest  at  the  din- 
ner table.  There  are  undoubtedly  exceptions  to  this  rule, 
and  we  can  readily  recall  the  names  of  Chief  Justice  Par- 
sons, Solicitor  General  Davis,  Daniel  Webster,  and  Judge 
Story  as  equally  great  and  happy  in  the  forum  and  at  the 
social  board. 

Mr.  Greenwood's  success  at  the  bar  was  made  manifest 
by  two  beautiful  houses  which  he  built  in  Bath,  one  occupied 
by  Colonel  Robinson,  the  other  by  himself  during  his  life, 
and  now,  I  believe,  by  the  Hon.  Freeman  Clarke.  His  taste 
in  architecture  was  not  confined  to  his  own  buildings,  but 
displayed  itself  in  the  structures  of  other  persons  who  sought 
his  advice,  and  in  some  public  buildings.  His  influence  was 
felt  in  the  erection  of  a  church  for  Dr. 'William  Jenks,  his 
pastor,  now  the  venerable  antiquarian  in  Boston. 

In  1809,  Mr.  Greenwood  received  from  Bowdoin  College 
the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.,  which  was  a  proper  tribute 
to  his  literary  and  classical  attainments.  In  1800,  he  liad 
delivered  a  eulogy  on  the  death  of  Washington  at  Bath, 
and  had  shown  himself  on  other  occasions  to  be  possessed 
of  a  highly  cultivated  mind.  Frederick  Allen,  an  early  con- 
temporary at  the  Lincoln  Bar,  says,  '•  Mr.  G/'cenwood  lived 
in  Bath  when  I  first  knew  him  :  he  had  a  very  good  practice, 
and  was  considered  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  successful 
lawyers  of  that  place." 

In  1813  and  1814,  he  represented  the  town  of  Bath  in  the 
General  Court.  At  the  first  term,  an  animated  debate  took 
place  on  the  answer  to  the  Governor's  speech.  It  was  then 
the  practice  in  Massachusetts  and  some  other  States,  as  well 


322  ANDREW   GREENWOOD. 

as  ill  Congress,  and  as  it  now  is  in  England,  for  each  branch 
of  the  Legislature  to  prepare  an  address  responsive  to  the 
suggestions  of  the  chief  magistrate's  speech.  This  was  in  ap- 
proval or  reprobation,  as  the  views  of  the  speech  suited  the 
majority.  On  the  present  occasion,  the  Democratic  minority 
in  each  house  entertained  a  bitter  hostility  toward  Governor 
Strong,  in  consequence  of  his  opposition  to  the  war  and  Mr. 
Madison's  administration.  Mr.  Otis  reported  the  answer  in 
the  house,  which,  of  course,  approved  of  Governor  Strong's 
policy,  and  a  very  animated  debate  took  place,  in  which  the 
leading  men  on  both  sides  engaged,  among  whom  Avere  the 
late  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  General  Fessenden,  then  of  New 
Gloucester,  and  Mr.  Otis.  Mr.  Greenwood  being  a  warm 
Federalist  and  a  hearty  supporter  of  Governor  Strong,  ad- 
vocated the  sentiments  of  the  address  with  great  zeal  and 
eloquence  :  the  newspapers  of  the  day  remark  that  his 
speech  ''  was  replete  with  spirit  and  independence."  It  was 
while  he  was  a  member  that  the  subject  of  the  famed  "  Hart- 
ford Convention  "  was  introduced,  and  the  measure  adopted 
and  carried  through,  under  a  tremendous  lire  from  the  op- 
position ranks.  Mr.  Greenwood,  of  course,  bore  his  part  in 
the  encounter  with  spirit  and  success,  aided  by  other  Federal 
members  from  Maine,  as  General  Fessenden  of  New  Glou- 
cester, Jeremiah  Bailey  of  Wiscasset,  Samuel  Thatcher  of 
Warren,  Isaac  Adams  and  George  Bradbury  of  Portland. 
In  1814,  Stephen  Longfellow  was  on  the  Portland  delegation, 
instead  of  George  Bradbury,  who  was  sent  to  Congress. 
Probably  there  was  never  u  brighter  display  of  forensic  abil- 
ity in  the  General  Court  than  during  the  three  years  of  the 
war  with  England.  Ijigelow  was  Speaker  of  the  House, 
John  Phillips,  President  of  the  Senate  ;  among  the  mem- 
bers were  Otis,  Daniel  A.  White,  Samuel  Dana,  Erastus 
Foote,  in  the  Senate  ;  the  late  Judges  Jackson  and  Sliaw, 
James  Savage,  the  Pickmans,  and  John  Pickenng  of  Salem, 


ANDREW  GREENWOOD:    DANIEL  P.   UPTON.  323 

John  Holmes,  General  Fessenden,  Josiah  W.  Mitchell, 
Thatcher,  Calvin  Selden,  Wallingford,  and  other  prominent 
men,  in  the  House. 

In  1809,  Mr.  Greenwood  married  Ann  Harrod  of  New- 
biiryport,  who,  with  two  daughters,  survived  him.  One  of 
the  daughters,  Sarah  Miles,  married  the  Hon.  George  Lunt 
of  Massachusetts,  and  died  in  1858  ;  the  other  married  first, 
Hay  ward  Pierce  of  Bangor,  and  second,  the  gallant  General 
Buford  of  Illinois,  who  distinguished  himself  at  Island  No. 
10,  and  has  performed  other  services  in  the  war.  She  and 
her  mother  are  now  living  in  Illinois. 

Mr.  Greenwood  died  in  Bath,  in  the  house  built  by  him 
and  afterwards   owned  and  occupied  by  the  Hon,  Freeman 
Clarke,  November  15,  181G.     The  following  extract  from  a 
letter  written  by  his  daughter,  Mrs.  Buford,  will  be  inter- 
esting in  this  connection  :  "  In  a  visit  at  Bath  a  few  years 
ago,  I  was  surprised  to  find  my  father's  memory  ^till  fresh 
and  green  in  the  hearts  of  his  friends.     I  was  carried  to  the 
church  he  did  so  much  to  erect,  —  Dr.  Jenks's.     The  two 
fine  houses  he  built, — one  occupied  then  by  Colonel  Robin- 
son, and  the  other  where  he  lived  and  died,  occupied  by  Mr. 
Freeman  Clarke, — both  show  a  fine  taste  and  a  true  love  of 
proportion  in  architecture.     Judge  Wilde  of  Boston  has  often 
spoken  to  me  of  his  eloquence,  and  his  power  over  any  audi- 
ence he  addressed,  —  also  of  his  conversational  powers  and 
ready  wit." 

DANIEL    PUTNAM     UPTON.      1800  —  1805. 

Among  the  young  men  of  talents  and  promise  who  came 
into  Maine,  near  the  close  of  the  last  century,  was  Daniel 
Putnam  Upton,  who  established  himself,  the  first  lawyer,  in 
Eastport,  the  frontier  town  of  the  State  and  the  United 


324  DANIEL   P.    UPTON. 

States,  in  1800.  Mr.  Upton  was  descended  from  John  Up- 
ton, who  was  a  blacksmith  in  Salem  Village,  now  Danvers, 
as  early  as  1658 :  from  which  place  he  moved  to  Reading, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  died  in  1699.  He  had  three  sons, 
William,  Caleb,  and  Samuel,  from  the  latter  of  whom,  the 
subject  of  this  notice  descended,  being  in  the  fifth  degree 
from  the  first  xlmerican  ancestor.  Amos,  the  son  of  Sam- 
uel, who  was  born  in  1716  and  died  October  6,  1780,  a  man 
of  great  energy  and  stern  Puritan  principles,  was  his  grand- 
father ;  and  Benjamin,  the  fourth  of  the  seven  children  of 
Amos,  was  his  father.  Down  to  1810,  there  was  no  family 
in  New  England  by  the  name  of  Upton,  but  the  descendants 
of  John,  through  his  three  sons  above  named.  The  mother 
of  Daniel  P.  was  Rebecca,  a  daughter  of  Deacon  Daniel  Put- 
nam, a  refined  and  cultivated  woman,  who  died  in  1785,  at 
the  age  of  thirty-four,  too  early  to  leave  the  full  impress  of 
her  character  upon  her  young  family  of  five  children,  of 
whom  Daniel  was  the  second,  and  then  but  eleven  years  old. 
Mr.  George  B.  Upton  of  Boston,  the  son  of  Daniel,  made 
the  following  striking  statement  to  me  :  he  said,  "  I  remem- 
ber to  have  seen  my  grandfather's  mother  :  she  lived  to  be 
ninety-nine  years  old.  She  told  me  that  she  had  seen  and 
talked  with  people  who  were  here  prior  to  1650."  This 
seems  to  be  bringing  the  foundations  of  our  country  very 
near  to  us.  Mr.  Upton  also  gives  mc  another  anecdote  of 
historical  interest  connected  with  the  family,  taken  from 
the  Massachusetts  records :"  December  21,  1717,  WiUiam 
and  Samuel  Upton  liberate  Thomas,  who  had  faithfully 
served  their  father,  John  Upton  of  Reading  ;  and  give  secur- 
ity to  the  treasury  that  tliey  will  meet  all  charges  which 
may  come  against  said  black  man." 

Daniel  P.  Upton  was  born  in  Reading,  August  12,  1774  ; 
he  took  his  first  degree  at  Harvard  College  in  the  class  of 
1797.     This  was  a  marked  class,  containing  the  memorable 


DANIEL  P.  UPTON  :  EASTPORT.  325 

names  of  Horace  Binney,  William  Jenks,  Chief  Justice 
William  M.  Richardson,  Prof.  Asahel  Stearns,  Dr.  John  C. 
Warren,  and  Daniel  Appleton  White.  Of  this  class  of  fifty- 
four  persons,  who  left  the  halls  of  the  university  sixty-five 
years  ago,  five  survive,  in  18G2 ;  among  whom  are  Binney 
and  Dr.  Jenks.  On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Upton  pursued  the 
study  of  law,  and  part  of  the  time  with  Phineas  Bruce  of 
Machias,  who  was  then  the  only  lawyer  in  Washington 
County.  Machias  had  a  population  of  less  than  one  thou- 
sand, and  the  whole  county  less  than  four  thousand.  What 
inducements  turned  Mr.  Upton's  attention  to  that  remote 
and  ungcnial  region,  we  are  not  informed.  Machias  was 
the  shire-town  of  the  county,  and  the  Common  Pleas  held 
one  term  a  year  there  ;  the  Supreme  Court  going  no  farther 
east  than  Wiscasset.  But  there  was  some  good  society  in 
the  place :  in  addition  to  Mr.  Bruce's  family,  were  those  of 
Sheriff  John  Cooper,  of  George  Stillman,  and  Judges  Jones 
and  Avery. 

Mr.  Upton  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  Common  Pleas 
in  Machias  at  the  August  term,  1800.  The  certificate  of 
Mr.  Bruce,  as  to  the  qualifications  of  his  student,  accord- 
ing to  the  custom  of  that  day,  bears  date  July  23, 1800.  On 
being  admitted  to  the  bar,  he  selected  Eastport,  the  most 
eastern  part  of  the  State,  in  which  to  commence  the  prac- 
tice of  his  profession.  Tliat  town  had  a  population  of  only 
five  hundred  and  sixty,  and  then  included  what  is  now  Lu- 
bec.  It  had  communication  with  outside  civilized  society, 
almost  wholly  by  water,  as  a  dense  and  continuous  forest 
cut  it  off  from  other  parts  of  the  State.  The  town  is  the 
smallest  in  territory  in  the  State,  is  !?ituated  upon  an  island, 
and  contains  but  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  ten  acres. 
The  road  from  there  to  ^lachias,  the  shirc-town  in  the  county, 
was  not  laid  out  until  1801) ;  and  Jonathan  D.  Weston,  the 
successor  of  Mr.  Upton  in  the  practice  there,  in  his  interesting 


326  DANIEL   P.    UPTON. 

account  of  Eastport,  says,  that  he  was  the  first  person  who 
went  the  whole  distance  between  those  towns  by  land,  which 
was  in  August,  180G.  He  also  says  that  the  first  two-story 
house  was  built  there  in  1802  :  this  was  two  years  after  Mr. 
Upton  moved  to  it,  and  there  were  but  two  in  the  town  until 
1805. 

The  encouragement  for  a  professional  man,  and  the  stim- 
lant  to  the  literary  tastes  and  pursuits  of  a  scholar,  accus- 
tomed to  the  refinements  of  the  society  existing  in  the  neigh- 
borhood of  Boston,  Cambridge,  and  Salem,  must  have  been, 
on  this  frontier  post,  of  the  most  humble  character.  Only 
one  court  a  year  was  held  in  the  county,  and  that  at  a  con- 
siderable distance ;  so  that  he  had  rare  opportunities  to 
meet  his  professional  brethren  :  it  is  not  therefore  surprising 
that  his  spirits  and  health  failed,  under  the  adverse  circum- 
stances in  which  his  fortunes  were  cast.  He  was  admitted 
to  the  Supreme  Court,  held  at  Castine,  on  the  fourth  Tues- 
day of  June,  1803,  a  term  of  this  court  having  been  granted 
to  Hancock  County  in  1801.  He  was  commissioned  as  a 
justice  of  the  peace,  May  10,  1801.  But  he  did  not  long 
remain  at  liis  post  after  this  last  appointment.  The  next 
year  he  returned  to  Reading,  his  native  place,  where  he  died 
December  31, 1805.  Mr.  Williamson,  the  historian  of  Maine, 
in  a  manuscript  notice  of  him,  says,  "  He  had  talents  to 
render  him  distinguished,  had  he  the  industry  requisite  to 
put  them  in  vigorous  operation  ;  but  he  had  no  competitor 
in  his  profession  near  him  to  awaken  and  excite  his  emula- 
tion. Yet  he  was  a  very  accurate  lawyer."  His  early 
death  deprived  the  profession  of  a  member,  who,  under 
more  favorable  auspices,  would  have  been  its  ornament  and , 
a  valuable  acquisition  to  the  State.  Mr.  Upton  was  a  man 
of  good  personal  appearance,  of  easy  address  and  manly 
character.  His  widow  never  ceased  to  speak  of  him  with 
the  tcndercst  afiection,  and  to  the  end  of  her  long  life,  with 


DANIEL  P.    UPTON  :   GEORGE   B.    UPTON.  327 

tears.  This  excellent  woman  was  Hannah  Bruce,  sister  of 
Phineas  Bruce,  and  daughter  of  George  Bruce  of  Mcndon, 
where  she  was  born  December  27, 1768.  She  survived  her 
husband  more  tlian  fifty  years.  She  is  said  to  have  been  a 
woman  of  rare  intellectual  endowments,  gifted  with  uncom- 
mon conversational  powers,  and  of  a  cheerful,  happy  tem- 
perament. Iler  mind  was  well  cultivated,  and  her  retentive 
memory,  stored  by  careful  reading  and  by  an  experience  ex- 
tending far  back  to  the  scenes  of  the  Revolution,  rendered 
her  a  most  agreeable  companion. 

By  her,  Mr.  Upton  had  two  children,  who  survived  liim. 
One,  bearing  his  own  name,  Daniel  Putnam,  was  a  successful 
ship-master,  having  by  his  merit  risen  early  to  the  command 
of  a  ship,  and  in  this  capacity  was  twenty  years  in  the  serv- 
ice of  Enoch  Train  of  Boston,  commanding'  his  packet- 
ships,  of  one  of  which,  the  Washington  Irving,  he  was  cap- 
tain when  he  died,  at  the  age  of  forty-six.  May  2, 1849.  He 
was  not  married.  The  following  expressive  words  are  from 
an  obituary  which  appeared  in  a  newspaper,  immediately 
after  his  death  :  "  As  an  experienced  and  judicious  ship- 
master, a  faithful  and  correct  business  man,  and,  above  all, 
as  a  whole-souled  sailor,  Capt.  Upton  had  few  equals." 

His  other  son  is  George  B.  Upton  of  Boston,  one  of  the 
enterprising  and  honored  merchants  of  that  city,  who  lives 
to  do  credit  to  the  memory  and  perpetuate  the  virtues  of 
most  worthy  parents.  He  has  children,  one  of  whom  bears 
the  name  of  his  grandfather,  Daniel  Putnam,  another  his 
own,  and  thus  combines,  as  George  Bruce  Upton,  the  blood 
of  his  first  American  ancestors,  Upton  and  Bruce.  The  son 
is  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  the  class  of  1849. 

Mr.  Upton,  the  subject  of  our  notice,  was  buried  in  Read- 
ing, but,  by  the  considerate  regard  of  his  surviving  son,  his 
remains  nf)w  rest  in  the  beautiful  shades  of  Mount  Auburn, 
by  the  side  of  his  long-parted  wife,  and  their  deceased  son. 


328  TEMPLE   HOVEY  :    HENRY   V.  CHAMBERLAIN. 

Mr.  Upton  was  succeeded  at  Eastport  by  Jonathan  Deles- 
dernier  Weston,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  the  famous  class 
of  1802,  who,  after  an  honorable  course  of  practice,  died  in 
that  place  in  1834. 

TEINIPLE     HOVEY.       1800—180  3. 

Temple  Hovey  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Ivory  Hovey  of  South 
Berwick,  and  a  descendant  of  the  Rev.  Ivory  Hovey,  a 
learned  and  faithful  minister  of  Plymouth  and  Rochester, 
in  the  Old  Colony,  who  died  in  1803,  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
nine.  Mr.  Hovey  was  not  publicly  educated ;  but,  passing 
through  the  usual  routine  studies  under  the  care  of  Dudley 
Hubl)ard,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1800.  He  did  not 
live  long  enough  to  make  any  figure  at  the  bar,  or  to  indi- 
cate what  his  future  might  have  been.  He  died  in  about 
two  years  after  his  admission  to  practice. 

HENRY     VASSAL     CHAMBERLAIN.      1800  —  1808. 

Henry  Vassal  Chamberlain  was  the  first  lawyer  who  set- 
tled in  that  part  of  the  county  of  Kennebec  which  is  now 
embraced  in  the  county  of  Franklin.  He  was  born  in  Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts,  about  1778,  and  established  himself 
in  Farmington  in  1800.  I  have  not  been  able  to  find  his 
name  on  any  of  the  catalogues  of  the  New  England  colleges, 
and  cannot  state  how  or  where  he  was  educated.  I  am  in- 
formed by  one  who  knew  him  in  early  life,  that  he  was  well 
educated.  He  was  tall,  erect,  with  an  agreeable  counte- 
nance, pleasant  manners,  and  an  exceedingly  interesting 
personal  appearance.  With  such  rare  advantages,  in  a  new 
country,  where  they  could  be  made  peculiarly  valuable,  he 
was  largely  patronized,  and  found  friends  and  business  rap- 
idly flowing  towards  him.  He  soon  married,  and  Jjuilt  the 
most  elegant  house  in  the  village.     He  was  popular,  en- 


HENRY   V.    CHAMBERLAIN:   EBENEZER  BRADISH.  329 

gaged  actively  in  the  affairs  of  the  town,  and,  having  a  fine 
taste,  he  introduced  many  improvements,  whose  benefits 
have  been  felt  to  the  present  day. 

Farmington  was  incorporated  in  1794,  and  the  county  in 
1838.  The  population  of  tlic  town  in  1800,  when  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain went  to  it,  was  nine  hundred  and  forty-two  ;  in  1860, 
it  was  three  thousand  one  hundred  and  six.  Mr.  Cham- 
berlain remained  in  Farmington  but  eight  years,  all  of  which 
were  prosperous,  and  afforded  encouragement  to  future  use- 
fulness and  honor  ;  but  this  advantage  he  lost  by  one  false 
step,  produced  by  dissipated  habits  into  which  he  had  fallen, 
which  involved  a  heavy  pecuniary  loss,  and  seriously  dam- 
aged his  reputation.  He  therefore  left  the  country  in  1808, 
and  sought  in  far  off  Mobile,  to  retrieve  the  fortunes  he  had 
sacrificed  here.  It  is  but  justice  to  say  that  in  his  new 
home,  he  acquired  a  high  reputation  and  a  large  estate  :  he 
became  collector  of  the  port,  and  surrogate  of  the  county, 
and  held  other  honorable  offices,  which  he  discharged  with 
fidelity.  In  social  life  he  was  hospitable  and  kind,  and 
became  an  honorable,  useful,  and  acceptable  citizen  of  the 
place  to  which  he  moved,  and  in  which  he  spent  the  greater 
portion  of  his  life.  In  1841,  he  made  a  visit  to  Farmington 
with  his  wife,  where  he  renewed  his  acquaintance  with  his 
former  friends  :  he  died  abqut  1855,  leaving  a  family.  His 
wife,  whom  he  married  while  in  Farmington,  was  Miss  Tar- 
bel  of  Groton,  Massachusetts.  His  son,  Henry  Vassal,  is  a 
lawyer,  has  been  mayor  of  Mobile,  and  judge  of  the  Orphan's 
Court  of  that  city. 

EBENEZER     BRADISH.      1796—1799. 

Ebenezer  Bradish,  son  of  Ebenezer  Bradish,  a  lawyer  in 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  graduated  at  Harvard  College, 


330  EBENEZER   BRADISH  :    SAMUEL   DAGGETT. 

in  1702.  He  came  to  Hallowell  and  commenced  practice  in 
1795  or  1796.  The  only  information  1  have  of  liim,  I  derive 
from  the  late  Thomas  llice  of  Winslow,  who,  in  a  letter  to 
me  in  1851,  thus  speaks  of  him,  and  some  other  of  his 
contemporaries  :  "  Amos  Stoddard  located  himself  as  a  law- 
yer in  Hallowell,  a  short  time  before  I  came  to  this  place, 
and  in  two  or  three  years  he  was  followed  by  Nathaniel  Per- 
ley  and  Ebenezer  Bradish.  Stoddard  and  IJradish  did  not 
possess  much  reputation  as  lawyers.  Bradish  was  the  son 
of  Ebenezer  Bradish,  a  lawyer  in  Cambridge,  was  graduated 
at  Harvard,  1792.  He  staid  in  Hallowell  three  or  four 
years,  and  then,  I  believe,  removed  to  the  far  west."  I  do 
not  find  Mr.  Bradish's  name  in  the  Registers  of  that  period; 
and,  although  his  name  is  starred  in  the  college  catalogue, 
the  time  of  his  death  is  not  given.  His  father  graduated  at 
Harvard,  1769,  and  died  1818. 

SAMUEL     DAGGETT.      1783  —  1798. 

On  the  annexed  list  of  lawyers  prior  to  1801,  is  the  name 
of  Samuel  Daggett.  The  only  information  I  have  concern- 
ing him  is  derived  from  a  manuscript  catalogue  of  lawyers 
by  Mr.  Williamson,  the  historian  of  Maine,  whose  entry  is, 
"  Samuel  Daggett,  1783,  Pittstdi,  now  Gardiner,  removed 
hither  from  Boston.  Exitus,  1798."  I  also  find  his  name  in 
the  Massachusetts  Register  of  1793,  as  an  attorney  of  the 
Common  Pleas  of  that  year  in  Pittston.  But  I  do  not  find 
his  name  in  the  catalogue  of  any  New  England  college,  nor 
in  the  history  of  Gardiner  by  Mr.  Hanson,  nor  in  the  tax 
lists  of  that  town  from  1785  to  1803.  I  therefore  infer  tliat 
there  was  no  such  lawyer  in  Pittston,  or  that  he  was  a  mere 
bird  of  passage. 


LAWYERS  TO    1800:    THEIR   INCREASE.  331 

LAWYERS     TO     18  00:     THEIR    INCREASE. 

I  have,  ill  the  preceding  pages,  brought  to  notice  every 
lawyer  who  resided  in  Maine  previous  to  the  present  century, 
and  I  think  all  of  any  distinction  who  attended  our  courts 
from  other  States.  The  whole  number  of  resident  and  reg- 
ularly educated  attornies  was  seventy-nine,  and  of  those 
actually  in  practice  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  fifty- 
three.  The  names  of  the  latter  class  will  appear  at  the  close 
of  this  chapter.  At  the  same  period,  1800,  the  Suffolk  Bar 
contained  thirty-three  members,  thus  classed :  five  barristers, 
twenty  attornies  in  the  Supreme  Court,  and  eight  in  the 
Common  Pleas.  At  the  time  of  the  Revolution,  1775,  there 
were  but  eight  lawyers  in  Maine.  Their  increase  during  the 
next  quarter  of  a  century  was  not  rapid  ;  but  after  that  time 
their  multiplication  far  outstripped  the  proportion  of  other 
classes.  In  early  times,  the  increase  of  attornies  in  Eng- 
land was  so  great  that  the  legislature  intel-posed  at  different 
times  to  check  it.  In  the  reign  of  Henry  VI.,  the  number 
was  actually  limited  to  six  in  Norfolk,  six  in  Suffolk,  and 
two  in  Norwich.  The  limitation  did  not  last  long.  Lord 
Coke  says,  "  "When  the  statutes  gave  way  to  appear  by 
attorney,  it  is  not  credible  how,  with  attornies  and  their 
multiplication,  suits  in  law,  for  the  most  part  unnecessary 
and  for  trifling  causes,  increased  and  multiplied."  In  Eng- 
land, in  1800,  the  number  of  barristers  was  seven  hundred 
and  seventy-three ;  in  1851,  it  was  three  thousand  two 
hundred  and  seventy-four.  During  the  same  time  the  attor- 
nies increased  from  five  thousand  one  hundred  and  nine, 
to  about  ten  thousand.  The  population  during  that  period 
nearly  doubled,  while  the  barristers  increased  four-fold. 

In  Maine,  a  similar  increase  took  place.  In  1800,  when  the 
population  was  one  hundred  and  fifty-one  thousand  seven 
hundred  and  nineteen,  the  luimber  of  lawyers  was  fifty-three. 


332        INCREASE   OP   LAWYERS  :   CHANGE  OF  CUSTOMS. 

In  1820,  the  date  of  separation,  the  population  had  nearly 
doubled,  being  two  hundred  and  ninety-eight  thousand  three 
hundred  and  thirty-five,  but  the  number  of  lawyers  had  in- 
creased to  two  hundred  and  seven,  more  than  quadruple  in 
the  twenty  years.  In  1840,  they  had  more  than  doubled  the 
number  in  1820,  being  four  hundred  and  thirty-seven,  —  of 
whom  Aroostook  had  four ;  Cumberland,  sixty-six  ;  Franklin 
twenty;  Hancock,  twelve;  Keiniebec,  fifty-nine;  Lincoln, 
forty-nine  ;  Oxford,  twenty-six ;  Penobscot,  seventy-four  ; 
Piscataquis,  ten ;  Somerset,  twenty-five ;  Waldo,  twenty-nine ; 
Washington,  twenty-nine  ;  York,  thirty-four.  Bangor,  with 
a  population  of  eight  thousand,  six  hundred  and  thirty-four, 
had  forty-eight ;  while  Portland,  with  a  population  of  fifteen 
thousand,  two  hundred  and  eighteen,  had  tliirty-seven.  In 
1860,  the  number  enrolled  in  the  profession  was  five  hun- 
dred and  twenty-nine,  and  the  population  of  the  State  was 
six  hundred  and  twenty-eight  thousand,  eight  hundred  and 
one. 

As  the  lawyers  increased  to  a  multitude,  the  customs  of 
the  bar  and  the  mode  of  conducting  business  changed.  The 
respect  that  was  due  and  paid  to  the  court  diminished,  and 
there  was  less  decorum  among  the  members  of  the  bar.  In 
the  early  day,  bar  meetings  were  regularly  held  ;  and  the 
opening  of  the  courts  was  always  attended  by  a  procession 
of  the  judges  and  lawyers,  preceded  by  the  sheriff  and  his 
deputies,  the  former  in  his  ofiicial  costume,  with  staff,  sword, 
cocked  hat,  blue  coat,  and  buff  vest. 

In  the  proceedings  of  the  court,  the  lawyers  were  more 
concise  in  their  arguments,  both  to  the  court  and  jury.  Mr. 
Parsons,  in  his  interesting  memoir  of  his  father,  the  distin- 
guished chief  justice,  says,  he  was  seldom  over  half  an 
hour  in  his  addresses  to  the  jury,  and  these  were  directed 
without  ornament,  to  make  plain  and  clear  to  their  minds 
the  precise  points  of  the  case.     And  Chief  Justice  Mellen, 


THE  CONDUCT   OF   TRIALS.  333 

in  an  article  written  for  Colman's  Miscellany  in  1839, 
observed,  "  Thirty  or  forty  years  ago  a  cause  was  argued  in 
half  an  hour,  or  an  hour  at  the  most,  which  now  demands 
half  a  day  ;  and  in  accomplishing  the  task  there  is  as  much 
circum-round-about  declamation,  phraseology,  and  travel- 
ing backwards  and  forwards,  as  there  was  in  Corporal  Trim's 
story  to  Uncle  Toby,  about  the  King  of  Bohemia  and  his 
seven  castles." 

This  brevity  in  argument,  and  the  mode  of  conducting 
causes,  still  prevails  in  England.  Mr.  Hillard  of  Boston 
gives  us  an  illustration  of  this  in  an  article  to  the  Law 
Reporter  in  1849.  He  attended  several  of  the  courts  in 
England,  and  thus  speaks  of  an  important  trial :  "  The  case 
was  argued  ably  and  thoroughly.  It  was  conducted  with 
much  more  temperance,  moderation,  and  smoothness,  than 
would  have  been  the  case  in  a  question  of  similar  magni- 
tude here.  The  trial  lasted  about  seven  hours,  and  I  am 
persuaded  it  would  have  taken  three  days  in  our  country. 
The  addresses  to  the  jury  would  have  been  three  or  four 
times  as  long ;  there  would  have  been  more  repetition,  more 
vehemence,  more  declamation.  On  that  occasion,  there  was 
not  a  single  word  spoken.  But  the  difference  was  still  more 
marked  in  the  examination  of  witnesses.  Very  few  ques- 
tions were  asked  —  none  that  were  not  strictly  pertinent  — 
and  the  cross-examination  was  very  brief,  and  not  in  the 
least  degree  teasing.  AVithout  wishing  to  draw  any  invid- 
ious comparisons,  I  will  also  observe  that  I  was  most  favor- 
ably impressed  with  the  tone  of  decorum  and  good  breeding 
which  presided  over  the  whole  trial.  The  presiding  judge 
was  dignified  and  generally  silent.  On  the  part  of  the  coun- 
sel, there  were  no  snappish  interruptions,  no  unseemly  vocif- 
eration, no  angry  snarls,  no  vulgar  crimination  and  recrim- 
ination. The  gentleman  was  never,  for  a  moment,  sunk  iji 
the  advocate." 


334  TRIALS  :    COURTS   OP  PLEAS   AND    SESSIONS. 

These  remarks  are  respectfully  commended  to  the  coiisid- 
oratioii  of  the  profession  in  Maine.  They  represent  some- 
thing of  tlie  practice  in  this  country  a  half  century  ago,  to 
which  a  return  would  be  most  honorable  and  refreshing. 
We  also  commend  the  subject  to  the  consideration  of  the 
bench  as  well  as  the  bar,  that  their  deportment  and  their 
influence  may  be  employed  in  this  work  of  salutary  reform. 
Let  them  rigidly  preserve  the  decorum  which  is  due  to  the 
cause  and  the  place.  Let  me  use  the  language  of  Lord 
Bacon: — "The  parts  of  a  judge  in  hearing  are  four :  to 
direct  evidence ;  to  moderate  length,  repetition,  or  imper- 
tinency  of  speech ;  to  recapitulate,  select,  and  collate  the 
material  points  of  that  which  hath  been  said  ;  and  to  give 
the  rule  or  sentence."  Again,  this  wise  judge  gives  further 
advice,  which  should  be  heeded  :  "  Let  not  the  counsel  at 
the  bar  chop  with  the  judge,  nor  wind  himself  into  the  hand- 
ling of  the  cause  anew,  after  the  judge  hatli  declared  his 
sentence  ;  but,  on  tlie  other  hand,  let  not  the  judge  meet  the 
case  half  way,  nor  give  occasion  to  the  party  to  say  his  coun- 
sel or  proofs  were  not  heard." 

In  connection  with  an  account  of  the  practice  and  pro- 
ceedings in  court  at  the  close  of  the  last  century,  I  present 
a  statement  from  Mr.  Rice,  an  active  member  of  the  bar  at 
that  period,  as  an  interesting  historical  record.  He  says  : 
"  I  will  now  speak  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  as  con- 
nected with  the  Court  of  Quarter  Sessions.  The  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  consisted,  I  think,  of  five  judges,  for  the  trial 
of  all  civil  suits.  They  received,  as  a  compensation  for  their 
services,  a  part  of  the  entry  fee  paid  the  clerk.  The  entry  fee 
for  each  action,  in  those  days,  was  one  dollar  and  ninety 
cents.  The  clerk  and  court,  after  the  term  closed,  met  at 
their  chambers ;  the  list  of  entries  was  brought  forward  l)y 
the  clerk  ;  and  the  sum  total  then  divided  between  the  clerk, 
court,  and   sherilL      In  addition  to  this  sum,  the  judges 


COURTS  OP  PLEAS  AND   SESSIONS.  335 

received  pay  as  justices  of  the  sessions.  The  Court  of  Ses- 
sions consisted  of  all  the  Justices  of  the  Peace  in  the  county, 
together  with  the  justices  of  the  Common  Pleas.  Justices 
were  not  so  plenty  then  as  now.  As  many  of  these  justices 
as  chose  assembled  two  or  three  days  during  the  term,  and 
attended  to  criminal  trials,  and  those  matters  and  things  in 
which  the  county  was  more  immediately  interested,  such  as 
taxes,  roads,  and  jails  ;  and  they  passed  upon  all  accounts 
against  the  county  ;  the  Common  Pleas  being  considered  a 
quorum  to  do  business,  if  no  others  appeared.  They  received 
a  small  per  diem  pay  of  about  four  shillings  for  their  serv- 
ices. In  those  times,  the  juries  were  paid  by  the  cause  : 
no  cause,  no  pay.  When  a  case  was  opened,  the  plaintifif 
advanced  eight  dollars  as  jury  fee,  to  be  paid  to  jury,  sheriff, 
and  crier.  Sometimes  the  jurors  would  attend  a  whole  term, 
and  not  try  more  than  two  or  three  causes ;  and  sometimes, 
after  the  writ  was  read,  the  case  would  be  taken  from  the 
jury,  and  demurred  or  defaulted.  In  such  cases,  the  jury  fee 
was  not  paid.  There  was  a  practice,  in  early  times,  of 
appealing  from  defaults.  The  Supreme  Court  sat  but  once 
a  year  in  Lincoln,  and  all  persons,  sued  on  demands  not  dis- 
puted, who  chose,  would  be  defaulted  in  the  Common  Pleas, 
and  then  appeal  to  the  Supreme  Court,  merely  to  give  them 
time  of  payment.  The  cost  attending  those  appeals  was 
equal  to  that  of  an  original  action  in  the  Supreme  Court. 
The  record  in  the  Common  Pleas  would  stand  thus :  The 
defendant,  though  solemnly  called,  did  not  appear,  but  made 
default ;  the  court  then  rendered  judgment.  The  defend- 
ant afterwards  came  into  court,  and  appealed  from  that  judg- 
ment ;  a  complaint  was  entered  at  the  next  Supreme  Court, 
for  affirmation  or  judgment,  the  appellant  not  having  entered 
his  appeal.  One  day's  attendance  and  travel  was  allowed  in 
those  cases,  besides  the  entry  and  clerk^s  fee  for  copies.  At 
some  terms,  twenty  of  these  entries  would  be  made  by  one 


336  LAWYERS   IN   1800. 

person,  and  would  be  productive  of  nearly  as  much  fees  as 
original  actions.  The  justices  of  the  Common  Fleas  were 
none  of  them  lawyers :  they  were  plain,  sound-sense  men, 
aiming  to  do  their  duty  faithfully.  I  believe,  without  speak- 
ing disrespectfully  of  any  other  court,  that  the  business  of 
the  counties,  by  the  courts  thus  organized,  was  as  faithfully 
performed,  and  with  as  much  satisfaction  to  the  community, 
as  it  has  since  been,  and  at  much  less  expense," 

In  the  old  wooden  court-house  in  Portland,  there  were 
wings  extended  on  each  side  of  the  judge's  seat,  for  the 
accommodation  of  the  sessions  justices,  who  frequently 
appeared  in  considerable  number  during  the  terms  of  the 
Common  Pleas. 


LAWYERS     IN     PRACTICE    IN     1800. 

The  following  table  contains  the  names  of  all  the  lawyers 
who  were  in  practice  in  Maine  in  the  year  1800,  arranged 
alphabetically  by  counties : 

CUM  BE  RL AN  D. 

Alden  Peter  Oliver,  Little  John  Park, 

Angier  Charles,  Morse  Leonard, 

Chase  Salmon,  Parker  Isaac, 

Da\ds  Daniel,  Symmes  William, 

Frothingham  John,  Vaughan  George  Elliot, 

Hopkins  James  Dean,  Whitman  Ezekiel. 

HANCOCK. 

Field  Bohan  Prentiss,  Nelson  Job, 

Oilman  Allen,  Sparhawk  Thomas  Stearns, 

Leonard  Oliver,  Story  Isaac, 

Wetmore  William. 


LAWYERS  IN   1800. 


387 


KENNEBEC 


Bridge  James,  Kidder  Reuben, 

Bridge  Nathan,  Perley  Nathaniel, 

Bowman  Thomas,  Rice  Thomas, 

Chamberlain  Henry  Vassal,  Whitwell  Benjamin, 


Glidden  Samuel  P. 


Wilde  Samuel  Sumner. 


LINCOLN, 


Bailey  Jeremiah, 
Greenwood  Andrew, 
Hasey  Benjamin, 
Langdon  Timothy, 
Lee  Silas, 


Merrill  John, 
Stebbins  Josiali, 
Smith  Manasseh, 
Thatcher  Samuel, 
Winslow  John. 


Bruce  Phiueas, 


WASHINGTON. 

Upton  Daniel  Putnam. 


YORK 


Dana  Judah, 
Emery  Nicholas, 
Hayman  Edward  Payne, 
Holmes  John, 
Hovey  Temple, 
Hubbard  Dudley, 


King  Cyrus,  * 

Mellen  Prentiss, 
Sullivan  Ebenezer, 
Thacher  George, 
Thomas  Joseph, 
Wallingford  Geo.  "Washington. 


CHAPTER  XVI 


JACOB  MCGAW — BENJAMIN  ORR  —  STEPHEN  LONGFELLOW — WIL- 
LIAM LAMBERT  —  BENJAMIN  GREENE — WILLIAM  ABBOTT  — 
WILLIAM  CROSBY — BARRETT  POTTER — ERASTUS  FOOTE. 


JACOB     MCGAW.      1801  —  1836. 

The  first  ten  years  of  the  present  century  witnessed  the 
accession  of  many  enterprising  and  talented  young  men  to 
the  bar  of  Maine,  who  were  destined  to  occupy  eminent 
positions  in  their  peculiar  department,  as  well  as  in  public 
stations.  Among  these  were  Stephen  Longfellow,  Benjamin 
Orr,  Benjamin  Greene,  Samuel  Hubbard,  Jacob  McGaw, 
Joseph  Dane,  William  P.  Preble,  Timothy  Boutelle,  A.  K. 
Parris,  Benjamin  Ames,  William  Crosby,  William  Abbott. 
Reucl  Williams,  S.  A.  Bradley,  Simon  Greenleaf,  Samuel 
Fessenden,  Nathan  Weston,  Frederic  Allen,  Ether  Shepley, 
Charles  Davies,  and  others,  whose  names  will  find  a  place  in 
our  subsequent  pages.  To  many  of  these  distinguished  men, 
the  society,  the  social  institutions,  and  the  public  prosperity 
of  Maine  are  largely  debtors.  Their  liberal  and  genial  cul- 
ture, their  elevated  tone  of  character,  their  sound  practical 
wisdom,  have  made  an  indelible  impression  upon  the  char- 


JACOB  MtGAW.  339 

acter,  the  laws,  and  institutions  of  our  State.  The  names 
of  such  men  should  not  be  suffered  to  die.  Let  us  attempt 
to  do  something  to  keep  the  record  of  their  services  and 
merits  fresh  amidst  the  perishable  memorials  of  time. 

In  1801,  no  less  than  eight  young  men  entered  into  the 
practice  in  Maine, — Jacob  McGaw  at  Fryeburg,  John  Abbot 
at  Castine,  William  Lambert  and  Benjamin  Green  at  South 
Berwick,  Benjamin  Orr  at  Topsham,  Stephen  Longfellow  at 
Portland,  Barrett  Potter  at  North  Yarmouth,  and  William 
Jones  at  Norridgewock. 

Jacob  McGaw  was  the  first  adventurer  of  the  new  cen- 
tury. He  came  to  Fryeburg  in  January,  1801,  where  Mr. 
Dana  had  been  in  practice  nearly  three  years,  and  to  that 
time  the  only  lawyer  in  what  is  now  the  county  of  Oxford. 
Mr.  McGaw  was  of  that  noble  old  stock  which  has  infused 
so  much  energy  into  the  Saxon  blood  of  America.  His 
father,  Jacob  McGaw,  born  in  the  north  of  Ireland,  in  1737, 
came  to  this  country  at  the  age  of  twenty-three,  arriving  in 
Boston  in  1760.  His  companion  in  this  emigration  was  his 
cousin,  Robert  Means,  afterwards  the  Col.  Robert  Means  of 
Amherst,  New  Hampshire,  who  had  the  honor  to  be  the 
father  of  the  three  remarkable  women,  wives  of  Jeremiah 
Mason,  the  distinguished  lawyer  of  New  Hampshire  and  of 
Boston,  the  Rev.  Jesse  Appleton,  President  of  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege, one  of  whose  daughters  is  the  wife  of  the  late  Pres- 
ident of  the  United  States,  Franklin  Pierce ;  the  third 
daughter  of  Col.  Means  married  the  late  Amos  Lawrence, 
the  merchant  of  Boston,  who  was  no  less  distinguished  in 
his  sphere,  than  the  others  in  theirs. 

These  two  cousins,  McGaw  and  Means,  embarked  their 
little  fortunes  together,  and  carried  on  their  business  as 
partners,  in  Merrimac,  New  Hampshire,  until  1770,  having 
all  things  in  common.  Mr.  Means  then  sold  out  his  inter- 
est in  the   firm  to  his  relative  and  partner,  McGaw,  and 


340  JACOB   MCGAW. 

moved  to  Amherst,  where  he  married  and  commenced  a  suc- 
cessful trade. 

At  this  time,  it  happened  that  John  Orr,  another  descend- 
ant of  the  Scotch-Irish  immigration,  whose  father,  following 
the  exodus  of  a  portion  of  his  race  from  the  old  and  renowned 
Londonderry,  of  the  north  of  Ireland,  to  the  new  London- 
derry of  America,  lived  at  Bedford,  a  few  miles  from  the 
residence  of  Mr.  McGaw,  with  his  sister  Margaret.  These 
families,  originating  in  the  same  locality  of  the  old  country, 
and  having  a  common  faith,  the  Presbyterian,  which  knit  the 
souls  of  these  emigrants  firmly  together,  and  endeared  them 
to  one  another  in  this  land  of  their  adoption  by  kindred 
associations,  became  intimate.  And  as  our  friend,  Mr.  Mc- 
Gaw, happily  said, "  This  acquaintance  resulted  in  the  impor- 
tant and  very  happy  relation  of  husband  and  wife  between 
my  father,  Jacob  McGaw,  and  Margaret  Orr." 

The  fruit  of  this  happy  union  was  four  sons  and  three 
daughters.  Two  of  the  sons  were  educated  at  Dartmouth 
College,  and  became  lawyers ;  two  were  merchants ;  the 
three  daughters  were  married  to  gentlemen  of  much  respect- 
ability. The  children  received  the  best  education  it  was  in 
the  power  of  their  parents  to  bestow.  Jacob,  the  subject  of 
this  notice,  was  born  in  1778,  at  Merrimac,  and  having 
passed  through  the  usual  preparatory  studies,  entered 
Dartmouth  College,  from  which  he  took  his  degree  in  1797, 
at  the  age  of  nineteen.  In  December  of  the  same  year,  he 
entered  the  office  of  the  Hon.  Thomas  W.  Thompson  of 
that  part  of  Salisbury,  New  Hampshire,  which  is  now  Frank- 
lin, and,  after  passing  the  regular  curriculum^  he  was  admit- 
ted an  attorney  of  the  Common  Pleas  in  January,  1801. 
Being  now  legally  qualified  to  enter  on  the  practice  of  law, 
he  lost  no  time  in  putting  himself  in  a  position  to  make  his 
talents  and  his  privileges  available.  He  had  vigorous  health, 
he  had  an  ardent  mind,  a  good  education,  and  high  hopes. 


JACOB   MCGAW.  341 

Armed  with  these,  he  only  needed  opportunity.  He  pro- 
ceeded at  once  to  Fryeburg,  and  opened  his  office  there  in 
January,  1801 ;  thus  beginning  the  year  and  the  century  in 
this  wide  but  cheerless  field  of  professional  labor.  We  will 
permit  Mr.  McGaw  to  look  back  from  his  eminence  of  four- 
score, and  narrate  some  of  the  experiences  of  this  period  of 
his  life : 

"  The  Hon.  Judah  Dana  had  preceded  me  about  three 
years,  and  was  the  only  practicing  lawyer  in  all  that  part  of 
the  county  of  York  that  was  situated  north  of  Ossipee 
River,  and  south  of  the  Canada  line,  and  had  no  competitor 
within  the  territory  that  now  constitutes  the  county  of 
Oxford.  A  considerable  portion  of  northeastern  New  Hamp- 
shire was  without  any  lawyer  resident  in  it.  Although  the 
limits  of  country  within  which  the  principal  part  of  our 
practice  originated  was  extensive,  yet  the  population  was 
sparse.  The  terms  of  the  courts  were  all  holden  at  great 
distance  from  Fryeburg,  which  caused  practice  in  them  to 
be  laborious.  York  was  eighty  miles  distant  from  my  office, 
and  Waterboro'  forty,  Dover  in  New  Hampshire  seventy, 
Rochester  and  Gilmanton  about  sixty  each.  At  all  these 
places  I  necessarily  attended  at  every  term  of  the  court,  and 
occasionally  at  Haverhill  and  Plymouth,  New  Hampshire. 
As  a  matter  of  course,  the  litigation  originating  within  a 
considerable  distance  around  Fryeburg  was  managed  by 
Judge  Dana  and  myself  on  opposite  sides. 

"  This  state  of  things  called  into  exercise  such  debating 
powers  as  each  of  us  possessed,  and  tended  to  cause  a  more 
thorough  study  of  principles  and  authorities  than  would 
have  been  likely  to  have  happened  had  we  been  within  reach 
of  older  and  abler  lawyers."  Their  wits  were  undoubtedly 
sharpened  by  this  self-reliance.  One  anecdote  I  have  heard 
of  their  practice  which  was  amusing.  On  one  occasion,  they 
had  a  very  sharp  contlict  in  a  trial  before  a  magistrate  in  a 


342  JACOB   MCGAW. 

neighboring  town,  in  which  the  counsel  became  much  excited. 
Not  getting  through  the  case  in  season  to  return  home,  they 
were  obliged  to  stop  at  the  tavern,  in  which  the  trial  was 
held,  for  the  night.  When  bed-time  arrived,  the  simple 
country  girl  who  lighted  tliem  ta  their  chamber,  expressed 
great  surprise  that  they  should  be  put  into  one  room.  She 
thought  it  could  not  be  safe  for  persons  who  had  quarreled 
so  bitterly  in  the  day-time  to  be  shut  up  together  at 
night.  Judge  Dana,  however,  quieted  her  fears,  and  told 
her  that  lawyers  were  like  two  sides  of  a  pair  of  shears  ; 
they  did  not  cut  one  another,  but  only  what  was  between. 

I  borrow  further  from  Mr.  McGaw's  manuscript  letter  to 
me :  "  In  1805,  the  county  of  Oxford  was  organized,  and 
tlie  first  term  of  a  judicial  court  was  holden  at  Paris,  the 
shire-town,  in  June  of  that  year.  Much  of  the  extensive 
region  both  north  and  west  of  my  residence  was  composed 
of  the  White  Mountains  and  their  branches,  which  rendered 
it  incapable  of  compact  settlement  or  valuable  productive- 
ness. This  fact,  with  some  other  considerations,  led  me  to 
the  conclusion  that  Fryebnrg  would  not  be  the  most  favor- 
able place  for  a  permanent  residence.  My  professional  busi- 
ness had  been  equal  to  any  just  claim  that  I  could  make  to 
public  patronage,  yet  it  seemed  to  me  that  some  other  loca- 
tion might  furnish  a  better  promise  for  the  future.  With 
this  feeling,  I  visited  the  Penobscot  River  and  Bay,  and, 
having  determined  to  adventure  into  that  new  country,  I 
closed  my  business  iu  Fryeburg,  and  moved  to  Bangor  in 
the  last  days  of  Oct()l)er,  1805." 

The  numerous  acquaintances  he  had  formed  by  his  long 
residence  in  various  j daces  in  New  Hampshire,  and  his  later 
practice  in  that  State  and  Maine,  and  the  reputation  he  had 
acquired  for  business  talents,  and  as  an  advocate,  very  soon 
introduced  him  to  a  good  and  an  increasing  business.  He 
says,  "  Within  a  period  of  two  years,  my  docket  was  respect- 


JACOB  McGAW:  COURTS  IN  HANCOCK.        343 

able  ■V7hen  compared  with  the  business  of  the  most  success- 
ful practitioners  in  the  then  very  large  county  of  Hancock, 
which  extended  to  the  Canada  line  from  the  sea.  All  the 
terms  of  the  courts  were  held  at  Castine  ;  and  the  Supreme 
court,  sitting  at  Castine,  hfid  appellate  jurisdiction  of  all 
appeals  from  the  Common  Pleas  of  Washington  County,  and 
so  continued  as  long  as  Maine  was  united  to  Massachusetts. 
At  the  first  term  of  the  Common  Pleas,  holden  at  Castine, 
which  I  attended,  I  was  invited  by  a  professional  brother  to 
argue  a  cause  for  him  impromptu,  in  a  matter  of  small 
amount,  but  in  which  there  were  some  doubtful  points.  I 
accepted  his  proposal  gratuitously,  and  gained  a  verdict. 
And  as  it  was  a  case  where  the  court  had  final  jurisdiction, 
I  supposed  that  the  verdict  ended  the  suit.  But  the  oppo- 
site counsel,  vexed  and  disappointed,  filed  a  bill  of  excep- 
tions to  the  ruling  of  the  court,  under  the  statute  of  Eliz- 
abeth, and  brought  a  writ  of  error  to  the  Supreme  Court. 
This  was  then  an  extraordinary  process,  and  it  was  the  first 
case  of  the  kind  I  ever  heard  of."  He  argued  the  excep- 
tions in  the  Supreme  Court  in  a  manner  to  elicit  commend- 
ation from  the  court,  although  the  cause  was  decided  against 
his  client.  This  effort  of  the  new  lawyer  in  the  growing 
county  gave  him  a  reputation  which  increased  his  business, 
and  opened  the  way  for  more  profitable  engagements.  He 
thus  speaks  of  his  progress  : 

"In  1810  or  1811,  I  was  appointed  to  attend  the  courtsat 
Machias,  in  Washington  County,  to  manage  some  litigated 
causes  pending  there.  Although  the  distance  from  Bangor, 
as  the  road  was  then  traveled,  was  more  than  one  hundred 
miles,  yet  I  found  compensation  for  the  labor  of  the  tedious 
journeys  and  attending  the  courts  during  twenty  succeed- 
ing years.  The  late  John  Wilson  of  Belfast  and  myself  were 
opposing  counsel  in  most  of  the  causes  which  were  tried 
during  that  period  in  that  county. 


344  JACOB   MCGAW  :   LAWYERS   IN   HANCOCK. 

"  My  competitors  in  practice,  after  moving  to  Bangor, 
were  principally  the  Hon.  William  Crosby,  until  he  was 
appointed  Chief  Justice  of  the  Common  Pleas,  Hon. 
John  Wilson,  Allen  Gilman,  Esq.,  and  the  Hon.  William 
D.  Williamson.  After  Maine  became  a  separate  State, 
professional  business  increased  very  much.  Some  of  my 
former  rivals  either  died  or  were  employed  in  new  direc- 
tions, and  younger  men,  as  Gov.  Edward  Kent,  John 
P.  Rogers,  and  Judges  John  Appleton  and  Jonas  Cutting, 
took  the  places  which  had  been  occupied  by  the  gentle- 
men before  mentioned.  Through  many  years,  and  until  my 
health  suffered  by  too  much  confinement  and  too  little  exer- 
cise, my  uninterrupted  employment  as  an  advocate  was  not 
less  than  that  of  any  other  gentleman  of  the  bar  in  the 
county  where  I  resided."  In  1816,  on  the  organization  of 
the  county  of  Penobscot,  he  was  appointed  county  attorney, 
an  office  which  he  held  and  most  faithfully  discharged,  until 
the  establishment  of  the  new  government  in  Maine,  when 
he  was  succeeded  by  Allen  Gilman. 

In  1834,  Mr.  McGaw  was  obliged,  by  the  failure  of  his 
health,  for  the  causes  above  indicated  by  him,  to  relax  from 
his  severe  labors  ;  and  in  1836,  he  relinquished  his  engage 
ments  as  an  advocate,  and  for  the  most  part  his  other  profes 
sional  employments,  and  retired  to  the  quiet  enjoyment  of 
private  and  domestic  life.  This  great  change  in  the  habits 
and  pursuits  of  an  active  and  busy  career  of  over  a  third  of 
a  century  did  not  disturb  that  cheerfulness  and  serenity  of 
mind  which  had  ever  characterized  the  early  and  riper  years 
of  this  most  estimaltK;  and  uniformly  honored  man.  And 
now,  at  the  age  of  fourscore  and  four  years,  he  enjoys  the 
peaceful  rewards  of  a  well-spent  life,  and  calmly  and  pa- 
tiently waits  the  inevitable  summons  to  the  higher  bar. 

Mr.  McGaw  is  a  man  of  fine  personal  appearance,  of 
ardent  and  impulsive  temperament,  and  agreeable  conversa- 


JACOB  MCGAW  :  BENJAMIN  ORR.  345 

tional  powers.  As  an  advocate,  he  was,  during  his  active 
practice,  the  leader  at  the  bars  in  which  he  was  employed, 
and  the  securing  his  services  was  considered  almost  as  equiv- 
alent to  success.  He  had  great  influence  with  the  jury  by 
his  easy,  pleasant  manner,  and  the  happy  tact  of  introduc- 
ing anecdotes,  and  applying  familiar  incidents  and  facts  to 
illustrate  his  argument.  He  retired  from  the  bar  with  the 
honors  of  the  profession  upon  him,  and  with  the  respect  and 
affection  of  his  professional  brethren,  his  clients,  and  the 
community. 

Soon  after  his  removal  to  Bangor,  Mr.  McGaw  married 
Miss  Poor,  a  daughter  of  Ebenezer  Poor,  of  Andover,  in 
Maine,  and  a  sister  of  the  father  of  John  A.  Poor.  The 
latter  gentleman  became  a  partner  of  Mr.  McGaw,  and  suc- 
ceeded to  his  business.  Mr.  McGaw  has  one  daughter 
living,  the  wife  of  John  B.  Foster,  a  merchant  in  Bangor. 

BENJAMIN     ORR.      1801  —  1828. 

A  most  fitting  accompaniment  and  companion  piece  to 
the  sketch  of  Mr.  McGaw,  will  l)e  that  of  his  kinsman,  Ben- 
jamin Orr.  Of  the  same  honored  descent,  originating  in 
the  land  and  under  the  principles  of  the  great  reformer, 
John  Knox,  their  ancestors  brought  to  this  country  the 
inflexible  religious  ideas  and  stern  self-poised  characters 
which  distinguished  the  disciples  of  that  rigid  teacher. 
Their  families,  by  inter-marriage,  became  more  nearly  allied, 
the  aunt  of  Mr.  Orr  becoming  the  mother  of  Mr.  McGaw. 

The  parents  of  both  transmitted  to  their  children  the  firm 
resolution,  the  intellectual  power,  and  the  unbending  integ- 
rity which  they  received  from  their  own.  This  Scotch-Irish 
stock,  mingling  the  current  of  its  blood  with  that  of  8axon 
origin,  lias  diifused  itself  over  the  whole  country,  with  a 

23 


346  BENJAMIN   ORR. 

vigorous  growth,  imparting  a  vital,  elevating  tone  to  the 
population  of  the  land. 

The  following  extract  from  a  jeu  (Tesprit  was  written  for 
the  centennial  celebration  in  Bedford,  in  1850,  by  George 
Kent.  Mr.  Kent  is  a  son  of  New  Hampshire,  a  member  of 
our  profession,  and  late  of  Bangor,  now  absent  on  a  foreign 
appointment.     He  thus  speaks  of  the  race. 

"  A  hundred  years !  wLat  hopes  and  fears 

Are  crowded  in  its  pages ! 
What  scenes  to  thrill  of  good  or  ill, 

In  glancing  down  the  ages  ! 
Than  Scottish  stock,  not  Plymouth  Rock 

Can  boast  of  nobler  scions  ; 
Whose  mixture  good,  of  Irish  blood, 

Speaks  true  Scotch-Irish  "  lions." 

Not  lions  they,  which,  in  our  day, 

Might  pass  for  "just  the  dandy ;  " 
But  stern  old  stuff,  in  aspect  rough, 

Yet  always  shrewd  and  handy. 
From  Ulster's  coast,  a  valiant  host. 

They  crossed  the  deep  blue  waters, 
And  refuge  found  on  Yankee  ground. 

Sires,  mothers,  sons,  and  daughters. 
Hither  our  Macs  had  made  their  tracks, 

Our  Orrs,  and  Goffs,  and  Fattens  ; 
Their  housewives,  too,  of  good  '  true  blue,' 

Undecked  with  silks  or  satins."' 

The  father  of  the  subject  of  this  notice  was  John  Orr, 
born  in  1749.  He  was  an  officer  in  the  army  of  tlie  Revo- 
lution, and  served  as  a  lieutenant  under  General  Stark  at 
the  battle  of  Bennington,  where  he  was  severely  wounded, 
and  rendered  a  cripple  for  life.  He  died  at  Bedford,  New 
Hampshire,  in  1823,  aged  seventy-four,  leaving  the  reputa- 
tion of  a  sound  and  vigorous  mind,  and  of  an  exemplary 
Christian  character.     He  was  the   son   of  John  Orr,  who 


BENJAMIN    ORR.  347 

came  from  the  north  of  Ireland,  in  1726,  to  Londonderry, 
in  New  Hampshire,  with  a  brotlier  Daniel  and  sister  Janet. 
He  died  in  1754,  and  his  wife  a  week  after,  leaving  his  son 
John  a  lad  of  five  years  old.  At  the  age  of  nineteen,  John, 
the  son,  came  to  Maine  with  some  other  young  men,  and 
engaged  in  the  occupation  of  a  carpenter,  where  he  remained 
two  years,  and  then  returned  to  Bedford.  In  two  years  after, 
he  married  Jane,  the  daughter  of  Benjamin  Smith,  and  earn- 
estly engaged  in  conducting  a  saw  and  grist  mill,  and  in 
improving  his  farm. 

His  oldest  son,  Benjamin,  was  born  in  Bedford,  December 
1,  1772.  When  he  arrived  at  years  of  discretion,  he  ex- 
pressed a  desire  to  receive  a  liberal  education  ;  but  his  father, 
having  eight  sons  to  provide  for,  was  not  able  to  comply 
with  his  wishes,  and  apprenticed  him  to  a  housewright.  He 
labored  in  this  capacity  for  two  or  three  years,  when  he  pur- 
chased a  release  from  his  indentures,  and  worked  on  his  own 
account,  keeping  steadily  in  view  the  prominent  idea  of  his 
life,  —  to  qualify  himself  for  a  learned  profession.  With  this 
intent,  his  head  and  hands  were  constantly  busy,  working  at 
his  trade,  pursuing  a  course  of  study,  and  keeping  school. 
Some  buildings  in  Portland,  Fryeburg,  and  other  places, 
were  pointed  out  by  him,  in  after  life,  as  the  work,  in  part, 
of  his  hands,  and  they  did  him  credit.  He  excelled  no  less 
in  mechanical  art  in  early  life  than  he  afterwards  did  in  the 
higher  art  of  the  law ;  and  such  was  his  genius,  that,  if  he 
had  not  preferred  the  more  elevated  walks  of  a  profession, 
he  would  have  been  no  less  eminent  as  a  mechanic.  By 
keeping  steadily  in  view  his  great  plan  of  life,  his  mind  was 
constantly  educating  itself  amidst  his  daily  mechanical  toil, 
by  close  attention  and  constant  discipline,  superior  far  to  the 
mere  formula  and  routine  study  of  schools.  When  in 
Portland  and  other  towns  in  which  courts  were  sitting,  he 
embraced    the  opportunity  to   spend  what  time  he  could 


348  BENJAMIN    ORR. 

spare  in  listening  to  their  proceedings,  hearing  the  arguments 
of  counsel  and  the  rulings  of  the  court,  and  thus  increasing 
his  stores  for  improving  the  operations  of  his  own  mind. 

In  tliesc  early  pursuits  and  struggles,  he  exhibited  the 
qualities  which  ripened  to  the  rich  fruits  of  mature  years, 
and  gained  him  the  affection  and  attachment  of  the  compan- 
ions of  his  labors.  In  his  studies  he  received  much  aid 
from  Paul  Langdon,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  and  some  time 
preceptor  of  Fryeburg  Academy,  who  gave  direction  to  his 
preparatory  ctibrts.  With  such  assistance,  and  his  own 
"unbending  perseverance,  he  was  enabled,  in  1796,  to  enter 
the  junior  class  of  Dartmouth  College.  During  the  last  year 
of  his  college  life,  he  was  attacked  with  a  severe  disease, 
one  of  the  consequences  of  his  unremitted  application ; 
which  had  the  effect  of  inducing  his  father  to  procure  means 
to  assist  his  son,  on  returning  health,  to  complete  his  college 
course,  without  further  extraordinary  exertions.  Wliile  in 
college,  so  earnest  was  Mr.  Orr  to  get  forward  in  life,  that 
he  entered  his  name  in  a  lawyer's  office,  as  appears  by  the 
following  certificate,  which  we  insert  to  show  the  form  of 
that  day:  "  State  of  N.  H.,  Grafton  ss.  I  hereby  certify 
that  the  bearer,  Mr.  Benjamin  Orr,  lodged  his  name  as  a 
clerk  in  my  office  on  the  27th  day  of  April,  1797.  That  at 
the  next  term  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in  September 
following,  he  was  regularly  received  into  my  office  as  a  can- 
didate for  thg  bar,  and  continued  therein  one  year,  to  Se|> 
tember,  1798,  during  which  period  he  attended  with  diligence 
and  constancy  to  the  study  of  law,  and  made  every  profi- 
ciency therein  which  could  be  expected  in  that  term.  Attest, 
William  Woodward,  attorney  at  law,  and  secretary  to  the 
bar  of  said  county."  The  following  certificate  continues  the. 
history  of  his  apprenticeship:  "  N.  fl.,  Cheshire,  ss.  This 
certifies  that  Mr.  Benjamin  Orr,  at  September  term  of  the 
Court  of  Common  Ploas  in  1708,  was,  by  tlio  consent  of  the 


BENJAMIN   ORR.  349 

bar  of  this  county,  admitted  a  student  in  the  office  of  Sam- 
uel Dinsmore,  Esq.,  of  Keene.  Attest,  Samuel  West,  clerk 
of  the  bar  of  Cheshire  County." 

On  taking  his  degree  in  1798,  he  entered  the  office  of 
Samuel  Dinsmore,  late  governor  of  New  Hampshire,  and 
continued  there  something  over  a  year;  when,  thinking  that 
Maine  would  be  the  best  field  for  his  future  labors,  he  pro- 
ceeded to  Hallowell,  and  placed  himself  under  the  tuition 
of  the  late  Judge  AVilde.  In  the  autumn  of  1801,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  Lincoln  County,  and  immediately 
opened  an  office  in  Topsham,  where  Mr.  Hasey  was  then  the 
solitary  practitioner.  In  1803,  he  was  admitted  to  practice 
in  the  Supreme  Court,  and  from  the  position  he  at  once  took 
at  the  bar,  his  practice  became  very  extensive  in  his  own, 
and  the  adjoining  county  of  Cumberland.  Some  interest- 
ing letters  from  Judge  Wilde  to  him  at  this  period,  show  a 
sincere  attachment  between  these  distinguished  men.  April 
9,  1801,  Judge  Wilde  writes,  "  I  am  happy  to  learn,  by 
your  favor  of  the  28th  ult.,  that  you  are  not  dissatisfied  with 
the  place  you  have  chosen  for  your  professional  exertions. 
The  man  who  is  accustomed  to  dwell  with  gloomy  despon- 
dency upon  the  present  scenes  and  views  of  life,  will  derive 
but  little  satisfaction  from  the  future.  However  elevated  his 
situation,  however  splendid  his  talents,  he  will  find  it  diffi- 
cult to  eradicate  that  canker  of  the  mind  which  the  restless 
spirit  of  early  life  had  formed,  and  which  had  been  nour- 
ished by  the  habits  of  succeeding  years.  The  high  objects 
of  honorable  enterprise  are  not  obtained  by  brooding  over 
the  present  evils  of  life  with  a  morose  and  gloomy  mind, 
but  by  activity,  industry,  and  energy,  which  will  not  be 
exerted  when  surrounded  by  the  horrors  of  disappointment 
and  discontent."  In  the  same  letter  he  confided  his  busi- 
ness to  him.  "  As  my  attendance  in  this  county  will  be 
indispensable,  I  must  be  indebted  to  the  candor  of  my  breth- 


350  BENJAMIN    ORR  :    JUDGE   WILDE. 

reii  in  the  disposal  of  my  actions  in  Lincoln.      I  shall  beg 
the  fiivor  of  you  to  take  a  list  of  my  actions,  and  to  which, 
if  you  have  no  objections,  you  will  have  the  goodness  to 
attend."     "  If  I  shall  have  it  in  my  power  to  be  of  any  serv- 
ice to    you,  either   professionally  or    otherwise,  I  shall  be 
happy  in  the  occasion,  as  it  will  evince   the  sentiments  of 
esteem  with  which  I  am,  my  dear  sir,  your  obedient  friend 
and  servant."     In  November,  1801,  "  The  only  objection 
that  I  can  see  to  your  coming  to  our  December  term  is  busi- 
ness, which  is  not  to  be  neglected.     I  am  rejoiced  that  you 
receive  so  large  a  share  of  it,  as  I  have  your  interest  and 
prosperity  very  much  at  heart."     In  December,  1802,  he 
writes,  "  I  hardly  know  what  to  say  to  you  on  the  subject  of 
separation.     I  have  always  been  friendly  to  the  measure, 
but  I  very  much  doubt  if  the  present  time  be  the  most  favor- 
able for  bringing  it  into  view."     He  then  states  some  objec- 
tions to  the  measure,  among  which  was  the  seditious  spirit 
which  was  prev^ailing  among  the  squatters  in  Kennebec  and 
Lincoln  Counties.     He  adds,  "'  Upon   the  whole  I  see  diffi- 
culties in  the  way,  which,  I  think,  cannot  be  removed ;  and  I 
think,  with  great  deference  to  the  better  judgment  of  many 
of  my  friends,  that  it  would  be  better  to  wait  for  a  more 
favorable  opportunity."     He  closes  the  same  letter  with  the 
following  remarks :  "  Mrs.  Dutton,  the  mother  of  our  friend, 
lately  died  on  her  passage  from  this  place  to  Penobscot,  under 
circumstances  peculiarly  distressing  to  her  friends.     Poor 
Dutton  writes  in  great  distress  on  the  occasion.     I  most  sin- 
cerely sympathize  with  him.     Mrs.  Samuel  Howard  is  like- 
wise almost  the  same  as  dead — there  is  hardly  a  forlorn  hope 
left.     Thus  death  plays  the  tyrant  about  us.     We  must  all 
soon  feel  that  his  power  is  not  to  be  resisted  by  force,  or 
softened  by  entreaties.     While  we  remain,  however,  let  us 
'  act  well  our  parts,'  in  doing  which  I  shall  always  remain, 
I  trust,  most  sincerely  your  friend." 


BENJAMIN   ORR.  351 

Mr.  Orr's  first  appearance  in  the  reports  is  in  the  second 
volume  of  Grecnlcaf,  in  a  case  argued  by  him  on  a  bill  of  ex- 
ceptions to  the  ruling  of  Judge  Tiiacher  at  nisiprius  against 
him,  in  which  he  gained  his  case  ;  Lee  and  Mellen  on  the  oth- 
er side  ;  Parsons,  chief  justice,  delivering  a  learned  opinion. 
From  that  time  onward,  to  his  death  in  1828,  he  had  continual 
employment  in  the  best  causes  argued  in  the  State  ;  attend- 
ing the  circuit  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  the  several  coun- 
ties. Here  he  came  in  competition  Avith  lawyers  and  advo- 
cates of  the  highest  powers  in  Maine  :  Mellen,  Wilde,  Whit- 
man, Longfellow,  Lee,  Boutelle,  Emery,  McGaw,  Wilson, 
Crosby,  Greenleaf,  and  Fessenden.  On  one  occasion,  he 
encountered  the  able  and  distinguished  Jeremiah  Mason  of 
New  Hampshire,  in  a  bill  in  equity  before  the  Circuit  Court 
of  the  United  States.  The  case  was  of  great  importance, 
as  may  be  supposed  by  the  engagement  of  such  an  advocate 
as  Mason.  "  His  success  was  complete  and  triumphant," 
and  he  was  highly  complimented  by  Mr.  Mason  for  the  man- 
ner and  ability  with  which  he  conducted  the  cause.  In 
chancery  practice,  which  came  in  principally  with  the  intro- 
duction of  the  Circuit  Court  into  this  State,  in  1820,  favored 
by  Judge  Story,  Mr.  Orr  became  quite  eminent.  This  prac- 
tice was  not  familiar  to  our  lawyers,  who  joined,  on  that 
account,  probably,  in  the  general  prejudice  against  equity 
jurisdiction.  They  had,  no  doubt,  the  opinion  which  Selden 
expressed  many  years  ago,  when  he  said,  "  For  law  we  have 
a  measure,  and  know  what  to  trust  to  ;  equitij  is  according 
to  the  conscience  of  him  that  is  chancellor,  and  as  that  is 
larger  or  narrower,  so  is  equity.  'Tiaall  one  as  if  they  should 
make  the  standard  for  the  measure  a  chancellor's  foot. 
Wliat  an  uncertain  measure  would  this  be  !  One  chancellor 
has  a  long  foot,  another  a  short  foot,  a  third  an  indifferent 
foot.  It  is  the  same  thing  with  the  chancellor's  con- 
science." 


352  BENJAMIN    ORR, 

111  this  department,  Mr.  Orr  is  said  to  have  been  without 
a  rival  in  the  State,  and  was  consequently  much  employed 
in  causes  arising  under  it.  He  pursued  his  large  and  suc- 
cessful practice  without  interruption  by  extraneous  employ- 
ments, except  for  two  years  from  1817,  when  he  represented 
the  Lincoln  District  in  Congress.  His  heart  was  in  his  pro- 
fession. He  sought  it  for  the  love  he  bore  it,  and  he  ren- 
dered to  it  a  most  devoted  affection,  and  the  honor  of  a 
most  upright  and  chivalrous  service.  Although  a  firm  and 
conscientious  member  of  the  Federal  party,  he  had  no  taste 
for  political  life  :  he  did  not  like  the  paths  that  led  to  it  — 
they  were  winding  and  crooked  and  narrow.  He,  however, 
yielded  his  private  inclinations,  and  was  elected  to  the  Fif- 
teenth Congress,  being  the  first  of  Mr.  Monroe's  administra- 
tion, and  took  his  seat  December  1,  1817.  During  the  first 
session,  he  did  not  much  engage  in  debate :  some  running 
observations,  taken  from  his  familiar  correspondence,  will 
convey  the  impressions  which  these  new  scenes  made  upon 
him.  December  15,  1817,  he  writes,  "  Debates  begin  to 
grow  lively,  and  some  good  things  are  said.  For  my  own 
part,  my  propensity  is  very  strong  to  be  silent."  December 
17,  he  says,  "  The  oratory  of  the  western  mountains  and 
wilderness  is  as  vociferous  as  themselves,  full  of  foam  and 
rhetorical  flourishes.  But  amidst  these,  there  is  occasional 
relief  from  the  well-timed  and  judicious  observations  of  men 
of  thought  and  weight  of  character."  "  Mr.  Speaker  Clay, 
I  feel  well  satisfied,  has  no  cordiality  for  the  administration. 
He  does  not  appear  to  wish  to  hide  his  feelings."  Decem- 
ber 30,  "  I  do  not  as  yet  feel  any  inclination  to  enter  the 
list  of  debaters,  and  am  very  much  amused  to  see  so  many 
around  me  set  up  for  orators."  It  was  at  this  session  that 
a  change  was  made  in  the  compensation  of  members,  from 
six  dollars  to  eiglit  dollars  a  day,  and  excited  a  good  deal  of 
controversy  and  debate.     Mr.  Orr  touches  the  point  of  the 


BENJAMIN    ORR.  353 

subject  in  a  few  words.  He  says,  January  8, 1818,  "  On  the 
business  of  compensation,  there  has  been  some  little  stir 
among  us,  and  it  is  truly  amusing  to  see  men  ivrig-g-ling- 
between  ambition  and  avarice.  Many  who  would  do  every 
thing  but  cheat  in  such  manner  as  to  become  legally  crim- 
inal, are  extremely  anxious  to  have  their  votes  for  cheapness 
recorded,  so  that  the  people  who  chose  them  may  see  and 
approve.  The  Speaker,  Clay,  appointed  a  committee  of 
seven  to  prepare  a  law  on  the  sul)ject,  and  put  Holmes  at 
the  head  of  it.  When  they  retired  to  consult  upon  the  busi- 
ness, they  were  all  very  ready  to  give  their  opinions  except 
Holmes  :  he  said  he  was  not  under  any  obligation  to  give  an 
opinion,  and  did  not.  Tiie  rest  of  the  committee  agreed 
to  report  a  bill  for  nine  dollars,  which  was  afterwards,  in 
the  house,  reduced  to  eight."  Mr.  Holmes,  on  the  passage 
of  the  bill,  uniformly  voted  against  increasing  the  compen- 
sation. The  claim  of  Massachusetts  for  a  remuneration  of 
her  war  expenses  was  another  question  which  engrossed 
the  attention  particularly  of  members  from  Massachusetts 
and  Maine.  In  regard  to  this,  Mr.  Orr  writes,  January  25, 
1818,  "  The  question  of  the  Massachusetts  claim  worries 
my  mind  a  good  deal.  Every  one  who  knows  me  will  expect 
me  to  advocate  that  claim  in  Congress,  in  some  measure 
suitable  to  its  merits.  I  feel  entirely  incompetent  to  the 
task  ;  yet,  I  suppose,  with  my  colleagues,  I  must  attempt  it. 
Tiierc  is  more  than  eight  hundred  thousand  dollars  depend- 
ing, and  pretty  strong  ])rejudices  existing  against  the  allow- 
ance of  it."  The  <iuestion  did  not,  however,  come  up.  But 
he  says,  under  January  2'J,  "  The  Speaker  has  scon  fit  to 
appoint  three  of  us  from  ^lassachusctts, — Mason,  Whitman, 
and  myself,  on  the  committee  to  investigate  the  claims  of 
Massachusetts.  There  are  four  others  joined  witli  us  from 
other  States.  It  is  my  design  to  give  every  attention  to  the 
subject." 


354  BENJAMIN   OKR. 

Two  other  questions  of  importance  occupied  the  attention 
of  Congress  at  this  session :  one  was  a  uniform  system  of 
bankruptcy,  which  Mr.  Orr  sustained,  and  on  which  his  friend 
Wliitman  made  an  able  speech  ;  the  other  was  the  first  move- 
ment toward  committing  the  government  to  "  Internal 
Improvements  within  the  States  of  the  United  States."  On 
this  measure,  Congress  and  the  people  were  much  divided. 
The  Federal  party  generally  opposed  the  employment  of 
government  money  in  work  of  this  character,  as  a  contra- 
vention of  the  powers  with  which  it  is  clothed,  and  of  the 
letter  and  spirit  of  the  Constitution.  Mr.  Orr,  on  the  13th 
of  March,  made  an  able  speech  in  opposition  to  the  resolu- 
tion, which  declared  that  it  was  the  duty  and  in  the  power 
of  Congress  to  authorize  the  making  of  post,  military,  and 
other  roads  and  canals  within  the  several  States.  The  res- 
olution was,  however,  adopted,  by  a  vote  of  ninety  to  sev- 
enty-five ;  Mr.  Holmes  voting  in  favor,  and  the  Federal 
members  from  Maine,  Orr,  Whitman,  and  Wilson,  against 
it.  The  next  day,  March  14,  Mr.  Orr  obtained  leave  of 
absence,  on  account  of  sickness  in  his  family,  and  returned 
home. 

Before  leaving  this  portion  of  Mr.  Orr's  life,  we  will  cite 
another  passage  from  his  Congressional  correspondence, 
which  will  express,  better  than  I  can,  the  natural  diffidence 
which  pervaded  his  character.  Under  January  3,  1818,  he 
writes,  "  There  is  one  thing  relating  to  my  station  here  that 
I  would  be  glad  were  otherwise :  that  is,  the  people  who 
sent  me  will  expect  me  to  make  speeches,  and  will  perhaps 
think  it  part  of  my  duty,  on  topics,  particularly,  which  regard 
their  interest.  My  reluctance  to  engage  is  really  very  great, 
and  to  overcome  it  will  require  an  effort.  There  is  pride  in 
this,  I  acknowledge,  for  our  greatest  talkers  are  evidently 
the  most  vain  and  shallow  part  of  our  body,  and  I  do  not 
like  to  belong  to  their  number.     1  understand  it  is  the  trade, 


BENJAMIN    ORR.  355 

or  a  part  of  it,  of  Gales,  the  editor  of  the  National  Intelli- 
gencer, to  prune,  correct,  and  revise,  as  Avell  as  piiblish 
speeches  ;  and  he  often  trims  a  very  shabby  thing  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  save  it  from  a  great  portion  of  the  ridicule 
which  is  due  to  the  original." 

The  members  from  Maine  in  the  Fifteenth  Congress  were 
John  Holmes,  Mr.  Orr,  Ezekiel  Whitman,  John  Wilson, 
Thomas  Rice,  A.  K.  Parris  :  the  latter  being  appointed  judge 
of  the  United  States  District  Court  in  January,  1818, 
resigned  his  scat,  and  was  succeeded  by  Enoch  Lincoln. 

At  the  next  session,  many  subjects  of  an  interesting  and 
exciting  nature  occupied  Congress.     Among  tliese  were  the 
Seminole  War  ;   General  Jackson's  conduct  in  seizing  the 
forts  in  Florida,  and  executing  Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister  ; 
amending  the  charter  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States  ;  the 
application  of  the  territories  of  Alabama,  Arkansas,  and 
Missouri  to  form  constitutions  preliminary  to  their  admis- 
sion as  States,  which  involved  a  warm  and  lengthened  dis- 
cussion on  the  restriction  of  slavei'y,  and  in  which  the  Mis- 
souri compromise  line  Avas  first  proposed,  having  been  intro 
duced  by  Mr.  Taylor  of  New  York.     On  the  Massachusetts 
claim,  which  was  received  and  again  postponed,  Mr.   Orr 
made  a  speech,  and  also  on  a  bill  relating  to  the  coasting 
trade,  in  which  he  spoke  twice,  as  did  ^Ir.  Whitman,  from 
Portland.    Their  remarks  were  characterized  by  sound  sense, 
conciseness,  and  entire  pertinency  to  the  subjects  under  dis- 
cussion.    Mr.   Orr  was  a  useful  member,  by  his  clear  per- 
ceptions, his  promptness  and  fidelity  to  the  duties  of  his  sta- 
tion, and  the  ability  witli  which  he  treated  every  subject  to 
which  he  gave  his  attention.     At  the  next  election,  there  was 
no  choice  on  the  first  trial,  and  he  withdrew  from  the  con- 
test, as  not  worth  to  him  the  struggle  to  obtain  the  office. 
Col.  Head  of  Waldoboro'  became  the  Federal  candidate,  but 
was  defeated  by  the  electioji  of  Mark  L.  Hill  of  Phippsburcr. 


356  BENJAMIN    ORR. 

This  was  the  last  public  office  which  Mr.  Orr  held.  The 
practice  of  law  suited  him  far  better,  and  was  better  adapted 
to  his  powers,  his  education,  and  his  inclinations.  He  sought 
it  ill  his  highest  forms  :  it  gave  full  scope  to  his  clear  and 
comprehensive  mind,  and  his  severe  dialectic  talent.  And 
he  pursued  it  with  elevated  aspirations  and  lofty  endeavors, 
which  would  have  no  fellowship  with  meanness  in  any  shape. 
The  following  lines  from  MaynariVs  XII  Wonders  of  the 
World,  1611,  well  describes  Mr.  Orr's  principles  and  prac- 
tice : — 

"  The  law  my  calling  is, 

My  robe,  my  tongue,  my  pen, 
Wealth  and  opinion  gaine, 

And  make  me  judge  of  men. 
The  knowno  dishonest  cause 

I  never  did  defend  ; 
Nor  spuniie  out  sutes  at  length. 

But  wisht  and  sought  an  end  ; 
Nor  counsaile  did  l)ewray  ; 

Nor  of  bofh  parties  take , 
Nor  ever  took  I  fee 

For  which  I  never  spake." 

He  adhered  with  scrupulous  exactness  to  the  letter  and 
spirit  of  his  oath,  "  to  do  no  falsehood,  nor  consent  to  the 
doing  of  any  in  court,"  "  nor  wittingly  or  willingly  promote 
or  sue  any  false,  groundless,  or  unlawful  suit,  nor  give  aid 
or  consent  to  the  same." 

As  an  advocate,  Mr.  Orr  was  concise,  logical,  and  forcible. 
He  seized  upon  the  salient  points  of  a  case,  and  pressed 
them  with  a  power  that  was  invincible.  He  did  not  waste 
his  strengtli  in  efforts  to  sustain  the  weak  points  of  his  cause, 
but  poured  a  concentrated  light  upon  its  strong  features. 
The  manner  in  which  he  viewed  this  style  of  managing  a 
cause  may  ])e  inferred  from  his  reply  to  an  anxious  client, 
who,  sitting  by  him  as  he  was  closing  a  splendid  argument,  in 


BENJAMIN    ORR.  357 

which,  with  conciseness  and  force  peculiar  to  himself,  he  had 
presented  his  case  to  the  jury,  suggested  to  him  some  point 
which  he  had  not  touched  upon  :  "  I  have  argued  your  cause, 
sir,  and  cannot  stop  to  pick  up  the  chips."  As  a  lawyer, 
his  mind  was  clear,  discriminating,  and  exact.  He  readily 
scattered  the  mists  of  sophistry  and  fraud  from  the  body  of 
truth,  and  presented  it  in  its  simple  proportions.  As  he 
grew  in  experience  and  rcj)utatioii,  his  business  rapidly 
increased,  and  his  services  were  called  for  in  all  parts  of  the 
State.  In  September,  1819,  he  writes  to  his  wife  from  Cas- 
tine,  "  I  have  as  much  business  as  I  had  any  reason  to  expect, 
and  shall  be  able  to  render  a  good  account  of  myself  when 
the  fall  terms  are  over."  In  June,  1823,  he  writes  from 
Bangor,  "  I  have  just  got  through  the  argument  of  a  tedious 
cause,  and  have  left  the  court  house  while  Brother  Wilson 
manages  his  side  of  the  case.  I  have  had  as  much  business 
since  I  have  been  here  as  I  could  well  turn  my  hand  to,  and 
am  glad  to  have  a  few  moments'  leisure,  while  "Wilson  is 
endeavoring  in  a  long  speech  to  undo  what  I  have  done,  for 
I  believe  I  have  convinced  the  jury  that  I  had  the  right  of 
the  case  ;  but  it  is  not  certain  they  will  continue  of  that 
mind  when  anotiier  long  speech  is  made  to  them.  If  they 
do  not,  poor  Upton  of  Dixmont  will  have  to  pay  the  doctor, 
whom  he  is  contending  with,  for  speaking  the  truth  of  him." 
In  May,  1825,  he  again  writes  from  Bangor,  "  With  regard 
to  my  prospects  in  business  in  this  town  the  present  court,  I 
have  no  reason  to  complain.  I  have  got  old  Father  Bussy 
for  a  client  here.  I  like  such  ;  but  he  is  so  sociable  and 
vain  that  I  have  to  double  my  patience."  "  I  expect  to  l)e 
very  busy  this  week,  and  that  is  what  I  wish  to  be.  This 
place  grows  in  every  way  ;  hence  the  business  of  the  court 
increases,  and  will  probably  continue  to  increase  so  long  as 
I  shall  be  able  to  follow  my  profession." 


358  BENJAMIN    ORR. 

But  ill  the  midst  of  this  high  Ctarccr  of  business  and  fame, 
he  died,  in  1828,  in  tlic  fifty-sixtli  year  of  his  age. 

The  death  of  such  a  man,  in  the  vigor  of  life  and  the  full 
maturity  of  his  powers,  was  a  serious  loss  to  the  bar  and  to 
the  profession.  The  manner  in  which  it  was  noticed  was 
honorable  to  his  memory.  Immediately  after  his  death.  Chief 
Justice  Mcllen,  in  a  charge  to  the  Grand  Jury,  September, 
1828,  spoke  of  him  as  one  "  who  had  long  stood,  confessedly, 
at  the  head  of  the  profession  of  our  State  ;  who  had  distin- 
guished himself  by  tlie  depth  and  solidity  of  his  understand- 
ing, by  his  legal  acumen  and  research,  by  the  power  of  his 
intellect,  the  commanding  energy  of  his  reasoning,  the 
uncompromising  firmness  of  his  principles,  and  the  digni- 
fied and  lofty  sense  of  honor,  truth,  and  justice  which  he 
uniformly  displayed  in  his  professional  career,  and  in  the 
walks  of  private  life."  The  writer  of  an  obituary  notice  in 
the  newspaper,  who  was  competent  to  judge  and  describe  his 
character,  observed,  "  At  the  bar,  he  was  always  a  pleasant 
and  honorable  practitioner,  indulgent  and  obliging  towards 
his  younger  brethren,  and  not  at  all  disposed  to  take  advan- 
tage of  any  mistake  of  theirs  arising  from  want  of  experi- 
ence. In  his  addresses  to  the  jury,  he  would  sometimes,  it 
was  thought,  animadvert  with  too  much  severity  on  a  wit- 
ness who  he  believed  had  suppressed  the  truth,  or  inten- 
tionally prevaricated  in  his  testimony.  On  such  occasions, 
he  would  pour  out  his  keen  and  biting  satire  in  short,  pithy 
sentences  of  concentrated  sarcasm  on  the  supposed  delin- 
quent. But  his  powers  appeared  to  the  most  advantage  in 
discussing  points  of  law  to  the  court.  Here,  laying  aside  all 
display  of  wit  and  sarcasm,  all  superfluous  illustration  and 
circumlocution,  all  skirmishing  at  the  outposts,  he  seized  at 
once  on  the  question  at  issue.  His  argument  was  dense 
and  brief;  proceeding  in  regular  progression  from  commence- 
ment to  conclusion,  so  that  it  was  dangerous  for  one  who 


BENJAMIN    ORR.  359 

would  comprehend  its  full  force,  to  withdraw  attention  from 
it  for  a  moment." 

Mr.  Orr,  residing  in  the  vicinity  of  the  principal  college 
of  our  State,  did  not  decline  to  render  it  his  services  and 
counsel  at  all  times.  He  was  first  appointed  one  of  its 
overseers,  and  in  1814  was  chosen  a  trustee,  which  oflfice  he 
held  at  the  time  of  his  death  ;  and  during  this  time,  for  one 
or  two  years,  he  held  the  office  of  treasurer. 

In  1805,  Mr.  Orr  married  Elizabeth,  a  daughter  of  Capt. 
Richard  Toppan,  who  had  moved  from  Newburyport  to  Tops- 
ham.  She  was  a  descendant  from  John  Robinson,  the 
Leyden  pilgrim,  and  venerated  pastor  of  the  Plymouth 
church  before  its  migration  ;  by  her  he  had  eleven  child- 
ren. "  She  was  a  lady  of  fine  manners,  and  well-fitted  to 
preside  in  a  family  where  hospitality  and  generous  friend- 
ship were  extended  to  their  utmost  limit."  The  death  of 
this  excellent  lady  in  1828,  to  whom  he  was  most  tenderly 
attached,  struck  a  severe  blow  vipon  Mr.  Orr,  from  which  he 
never  recovered.  His  letters  to  her  when  he  was  absent  in 
Congress,  or  upon  the  circuit,  were  filled  with  expressions 
of  anxious  solicitude  for  her  health,  of  deep  interest  in  her 
comfort,  pleasure,  and  welfare.  And  when  she  was  taken 
from  him,  he  ceased  to  find  consolation  or  support.  She 
had  been  to  liim  the  right  arm  of  his  domestic  life,  and  the 
sympathizing  friend  of  his  struggles,  his  successes,  and  his 
fame. 

Two  sons  and  five  daughters  survived  tlieir  parents  :  the 
sons,  John  and  Henry,  were  educated  at  Bowdoin  College. 
One  graduated  in  1834,  the  other,  Ilcnry,  in  1840.  John 
is  settled  in  the  ministry  at  Alfred,  and  Henry  is  in  the 
practice  of  law.  The  five  daughters  married  as  follows  : 
Elizabeth  to  John  A.  Poor  of  Portland,  and  died  without 
issue,  June  2,  1844,  aged  thirty-two  ;  Margaret  to  Alfred  I. 
Stone  of  Brunswick  ;  Jane  to  William  H.  Noble,  a  civil  en- 


360  STEPHEN   LONGFELLOW. 

ginccr  ;  Catherine  to  Mr.  Gregg  of  Andover,  Vlio  is  dead  ; 
and  Laura  to  John  W.  Davis,  a  lawyer  now  living  in  AVell- 
fleet,  Massachusetts.  The  daughters  are  all  living  but 
Elizabeth. 

STEPHEN     LONGFELLOW.      1801  —  1849. 

Mr.  Longfellow  was  a  successful  rival  and  an  honorable 
competitor  of  Mr.  Orr  for  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century, 
at  the  bar  of  Cumberland  County ;  and  was,  like  him,  a 
wise  counsellor,  an  able  advocate,  and  an  honest  man.  He 
was  born  in  Gorham,  Maine,  March  23,  1776.  His  father, 
who  was  born  in  Falmouth,  and  his  grandfather,  removed  to 
Gorham  from  Falmouth,  on  its  destruction  by  the  British 
fleet  in  October,  1775,  and  remained  there  during  their  lives. 
His  early  days  were  spent  in  that  town,  on  the  farm  of  his 
father,  and  in  studies  necessary  to  prepare  him  for  his  future 
occupation.  Sometimes,  in  his  addresses  to  the  jury,  he 
adroitly  drew  illustrations  from  his  farmer's  apprenticeship, 
to  point  his  argument  or  secure  tlieir  favorable  attention.  I 
once  had  great  fear  of  losing  a  case  by  one  of  these  apt 
allusions,  in  speaking  of  his  carrying  butter  to  market  in 
Portland. 

He  was  descended  in  the  fourth  degree  from  William 
Longfellow,  the  first  of  the  name  who  came  to  this  country 
and  settled  in  the  Byefield  Parish,  in  the  old  town  of  New- 
bury, and  who  married  there,  in  1078,  Anne  Sewall.  She 
was  the  daughter  of  Henry  Sewall  and  Jane  Dummer,  and 
born  September  3,  1662.  After  the  death  of  her  first  hus- 
band, Longfellow,  slie  married  Henry  Short ;  and  as  Savage 
says  in  his  Genealogical  Dictionary,  "  had  both  Longfcllows 
and  Shorts."  His  father,  grandfather,  and  great-grandfather 
were  all  named  Stephen  ;  derived  from  Stephen  Dummer, 
the  father  of  Jane,  the  first  William  I^ongfellow's  wife.     His 


^^^ 


v> 


■^^ 


V 


STEPHEN   LONGFELLOW.  361 

grandfather,  the  finst  immigrant  to  Maine,  graduated  at  Har- 
vard College  in  1742,  and  came  to  Foriland,  then  Falmouth, 
as  the  Grammar  School  Master,  in  1745.  He  filled  many 
offices  of  honor  and  trust,  and  exercised  an  important  influ- 
ence in  the  affairs  of  the  town  and  county.  lie  was  fifteen 
years  Grammar  School  Master  ;  twenty-tliree  years  Parish 
Clerk  ;  twenty-two  years  Town  Clerk  ;  and  fifteen  years  Reg- 
ister of  Probate  and  Clerk  of  the  Judicial  Courts  ;  several 
of  which  offices  he  held  at  the  same  time.  His  son  Stephen 
held  the  office  of  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and 
died  much  respected,  in  1824,  at  the  age  of  seventy-four. 
The  grandfather  died  in  1790. 

The  subject  of  our  notice  entered  Harvard  College  in 
1794,  at  the  age  of  eighteen,  and  at  once  took  an  honorable 
position  with  the  government  and  his  college  companions, 
by  the  frankness  of  his  manners,  and  his  uniformly  correct 
deportment.  His  scholarship  is  attested  by  his  election  to 
the  Phi  Beta  Kappa  society.  I  have  the  privilege  of  offer- 
lug  the  satisfactory  testimony  of  his  associates  concerning 
tills  period  of  his  life.  His  classmate,  Humphrey  Dever- 
cux,  now  living  at  Salem,  in  a  letter,  says  of  him,  "  On 
entering  college,  Longfellow  was  in  advance  in  years  of 
many  of  us,  and  his  mind  and  judgment,  of  course,  more 
matured.  He  had  a  well-balanced  mind,  no  part  so  prom- 
inent as  to  overshadow  the  rest.  It  was  not  rapid  in  its 
movements,  nor  brilliant  in  its  course,  but  its  conclusions 
were  sound  and  correct.  He  was  inclined  to  think,  com- 
pare, and  weigh  closely  :  he  did  not  soar  into  the  regions  of 
fancy  and  abstraction,  but  kept  on  the  terra  fir  ma  of  prac- 
tical common  sense.  In  his  habits,  he  was  studious  and 
exemplary,  free  from  every  contaminating  influence.  In  a 
class  which  had  its  full  share  of  talent  and  scholarship,  he 
held  a  very  reputable  rank  among  its  high  divisions,  and 
shared  its  honors  in  the  assignment  of   the  college  govern- 

24 


362  STEPHEN   LONGFELLOW. 

ment,  and  in  the  estimation  of  his  classmates.  In  his  tem- 
perament, he  was  bright  and  cheerful,  and  engaged  freely 
in  the  social  pleasures  of  friendly  meetings  and  literary 
associations.  His  manners  then,  as  in  later  life,  were  cour- 
teous, polished,  and  simple  ;  springing  from  a  native  polite- 
ness, or  a  generous,  manly  feeling.  He  was  born  a  gentle- 
man, and  was  a  general  favorite  of  his  class." 

The  venerable  Daniel  Appleton  White,  of  Salem,  two  years 
his  senior  in  college,  lately  deceased,  writes,  "  Mr.  Longfel- 
low was  a  general  favorite  with  his  classmates.  The  Rev. 
Dr.  Channing  used  to  speak  in  high  terms  of  his  excellent 
classmate  :  he  said  to  me  in  one  of  his  eulogiums,  that  he 
possessed  great  energy  of  character."  He  again  says,  "'  I 
never  knew  a  man  more  free  from  everything  offensive  to 
good  taste  or  good  feeling  ;  even  to  his  dress  and  personal 
appearance,  all  about  him  was  attractive.  In  his  deport- 
ment and  manners,  he  was  uniformly  courteous  and  amiable. 
He  was  evidently  a  well-bred  gentleman  when  he  left  tlie 
paternal  mansion  for  the  university.  He  seemed  to  breathe 
an  atmosphere  of  purity,  as  his  natural  element,  while  his 
bright  intelligence,  buoyant  spirits,  and  social  warmth  dif- 
fused a  sunshine  of  joy  that  made  his  presence  always  glad- 
some." 

These  high  tributes  to  the  youthful  character  of  Mr.  Long- 
fellow were  fully  sustained  in  his  riper  years.  He  grad- 
uated in  the  class  of  Dr.  Channing,  Judge  Story,  Professor 
Sidney  Willard,  Dr.  Tuckerman,  and  other  distinguished 
scholars,  of  whom  but  three  in  a  class  of  forty-eight,  now 
remain. 

On  leaving  college,  he  immediately  entered  on  the  study 
of  law  with  Salmon  Chase  of  Portland,  who  was  then  engaged 
in  the  most  extensive  practice  of  any  lawyer  at  the  Cumber- 
land Bar  ;  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  1801.  He  estab- 
lished himself  at  Portland,  where  the  held  was  already 


STEPHEN   LONGFELLOW.  363 

occupied  by  seven  lawyers  in  a  population  of  thirty-eight 
hundred.  These  prior  occupants  of  this  held  were  John 
Frothingham,  who  commenced  practice  there  in  1778,  and 
was  for  a  while  the  only  lawyer  in  the  county  ;  Daniel  Davis, 
a  polished  gentleman  and  popular  advocate  ;  William 
Symmes,  a  good  scholar  and  lawyer,  but  of  very  formal 
manners ;  Isaac  Parker,  afterwards  Chief  Justice  of  Massa- 
chusetts —  all  these  were  from  the  old  Bay  State  ;  Salmon 
Chase  and  George  E.  Vaughan,  from  New  Hampshire  ;  and 
James  D.  Hopkins,  a  native  of  England,  but  whose  parents 
immigrated  to  Portland  soon  after  the  peace  of  1788.  There 
were  but  two  other  members  belonging  to  the  Cumberland 
Bar  at  that  time,  who  were  Ezekiel  Whitman,  then  practic- 
ing at  New  Gloucester  ;  and  Peter  0.  Alden,  at  Brunswick. 
Of  these,  not  one  survives  but  the  venerable  Judge  Whit- 
man, who  was  born  in  the  same  month  and  year  with  Mr. 
Longfellow,  and  is  now  enjoying,  in  his  native  town,  East 
Bridgewater,  Massachusetts,  a  serene  old  age,  the  ripe  fruit 
of  temperance,  self-control,  and  a  virtuous  life.  The  county 
then  contained  a  population  of  about  thirty-two  thousand. 

Notwithstanding  this  array  of  able  counsellors,  Mr.  Long- 
fellow, fearless  of  the  competition,  earnestly  engaged  in  the 
struggle  which  such  a  rivalship  exacted.  The  forensic  efforts 
and  encounters  were  conducted  with  more  regard  to  court- 
esy and  the  dignity  of  the  bar  at  that  period  than  at  the 
present  time.  The  members  of  the  bar,  and  the  judges  on 
the  bench,  carried  into  their  ofiicial  deportment,  the  dignified 
and  somewhat  formal  manners  of  the  old  school.  Levity 
or  vulgarity  could  not  exist  in  the  presence  of  that  person- 
ification of  dignity,  the  learned  Chief  Justice  Dana ;  nor 
would  rudeness  or  degrading  personalities  be  tolerated  by 
his  more  learned  but  less  j)olishcd  successor,  Chief  Justice 
Parsons,  and  his  associates,  the  pure-minded  Sewall  and  the 
stern  and  reserved  Sedgwick. 


364  STEPHEN   LONGFELLOW. 

Parker,  Davis,  Chase,  and  AVhitmau  coulJ  not  do  other- 
wise than  welcome  to  their  association  a  brother,  kindred  to 
them  in  all  elevated  qualities.  Mr.  Longfellow  soon  secured 
a  successful  and  honorable  practice,  and  took  a  command- 
ing position  at  the  bar,  by  the  urbanity  of  his  conduct,  his 
legal  ability,  and  the  integrity  of  his  principles.  One  of  his 
contemporaries  at  the  bar  recently  said  to  me,  "Longfellow 
had  a  line  legal  mind,  he  was  industrious,  attentive,  courte- 
ous, and  got  into  business  at  once.  His  first  address  to  the 
jury  was  plausible  and  ingenious,  and  almost  as  good  as  any 
one  he  afterwards  made."  On  the  death  of  Chase  and 
Symmes,  and  the  removal  of  Judge  Parker  to  Boston,  all 
which  occurred  in  180G  and  early  in  1807,  he  became  one 
of  the  leaders  in  the  practice,  which,  as  he  advanced,  con- 
tinually increased,  until  its  accumulated  weight  bore  too 
heavily  upon  his  over-taxed  powers  ;  and  he  was  admonished 
by  a  fearful  attack  of  epilepsy,  to  withdraw  for  a  while  from 
the  excitements  of  business  and  its  overwhelming  cares. 
He  gradually,  although  most  reluctantly,  quitted  a  field 
which  had  been  to  him  a  source  of  happiness  and  fame,  and 
on  which  he  had  conferred  dignity  and  honor. 

No  man  more  surely  gained  the  confidence  of  all  who 
approached  him,  or  held  it  firmer  ;  and  those  who  knew  him 
best,  loved  him  most.  In  the  management  of  his  causes, 
he  went  with  zeal  and  directness  of  purpose  to  every  point 
which  could  sustain  it :  there  was  no  traveling  out  of  the 
record  with  him,  nor  a  wandering  away  from  the  line  of  his 
argument  after  figures  of  speech  or  fine  rhetoric,  but  he  was 
plain,  straight-forward,  and  effective  in  his  appeals  to  the 
jury,  and  1?y  his  frank  and  candid  manner  won  them  to  his 
cause.  And  I  may  truly  ofi"er  him  as  an  illustration  of  Ful- 
ler's "  good  advocate,"  whom  he  thus  describes,  "  He  makes 
not  a  Trojan  siege  of  a  suit,  but  seeks  to  bring  it  to  a  set 
Imttle  in  a  speedy  trial.     In  pleading,  he  shoots  fairly  at  the 


STEPHEN   LONGFELLOW.  365 

head  of  the  cause,  and  having  fastened,  no  frowns  nor  favors 
shall  make  him  let  go  his  hold."  But  with  all  this,  although 
firm  and  unyielding  when  he  believed  himself  to  be  right, 
he  never  forgot  the  duties  of  a  gentleman  and  a  Christian, 
nor  lost  his  suavity  of  manners  in  the  ardor  and  bravery  of 
action. 

■  A  man  of  such  estimable  qualities  was  not  permitted  to 
give  his  whole  time  to  his  profession  :  the  people  demanded 
the  exercise  of  his  eminent  ability  and  practical  talent  for 
their  service  ;  and  in  1814,  a  year  of  great  excitement  and 
danger  to  the  republic  from  war  with  England, —  a  large 
fleet  hanging  upon  our  coast,  and  a  well-disciplined  army 
menacing  our  northern  frontier, —  he  was  sent  to  the  Legis- 
lature of  Massachusetts,  and  while  there  he  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  celebrated  Hartford  Convention,  in  company 
with  Judge  Wilde  from  this  State,  George  Cabot,  Harrison 
Gray  Otis,  and  other  distinguished  Federalists  from  Massa- 
chusetts and  the  other  New  England  States.  In  1816,  he 
was  chosen  an  elector  of  President,  and  with  Prentiss  Mel- 
len,  and  the  other  electors  of  Massachusetts,  threw  his  vote 
for  the  eminent  statesman,  Rufus  King,  a  native  of  Maine. 
Mr.  Monroe,  the  candidate  of  the  Democratic  party,  was 
elected  for  this,  his  first  term,  by  a  majority  of  one  hundred 
and  nine  votes ;  for  his  second  term,  from  1817  to  1821,  he 
received  every  electoral  vote  but  one,  which  was  thrown  for 
JohnQuincy  Adams,  by  Gov.  Plumer  of  New  Hampshire. 

This  was  the  era  of  good  feeling ;  or,  as  John  Randolph 
called  it,  the  "  era  of  indifference."  Political  harmony  pre- 
vailed, such  as  had  not  existed  since  the  days  of  Washing- 
ton :  the  old  Federal  party,  which  had  embraced  many  of 
the  wisest  and  best  men  of  the  country,  Avhose  names  are 
now  canonized,  then  ceased  to  exist ;  all  parties  united  to 
render  a  sincere  and  hearty  support  to  the  federal  constitu- 
tion, opposition  to  which,  in  the  early  days  of  the  govern- 
ment, had  created  the  anti-federal  party. 


36(3  STEPHEN    LONGFELLOW. 

Ill  1822,  Mr.  Longfellow  was  chosen  to  the  Eighteenth 
Congress,  the  closing  two  years  of  Mr.  Monroe's  second 
administration,  where  he  was  associated  with  Lincoln  of 
Maine,  Webster  of  Massachusetts,  Buchanan  of  Pennsylva- 
nia, Clay  of  Kentncky,  Barbour  and  Randolph  of  Virginia, 
McLane  of  Delaware,  Forsyth  of  Georgia,  Houston  of  Ten- 
nessee, Livingston  of  Louisiana.  Henry  Clay  was  Speaker 
of  the  House,  and  John  Chandler  and  John  Holmes  were 
Senators  from  Maine.  Having  served  out  his  term  faithful- 
ly and  well,  and  by  his  voice  and  vote  resisted  the  general 
and  profuse  expenditure  of  public  money  for  indiscriminate 
internal  improvements,  he  took  leave  of  political  life,  which 
had  no  charm  for  him.  The  remainder  of  his  years,  so  far 
as  his  health  permitted,  he  gave  to  his  profession.  How  well 
he  served  it,  the  first  sixteen  volumes  of  the  Massachusetts 
Reports,  and  the  first  twelve  of  the  Maine  Reports,  extend- 
ing through  a  period  of  more  than  thirty  years,  bear  ample 
testimony  :  they  exhibit  his  ability  as  a  learned  jurist,  and 
his  skill  as  an  ingenious  dialectician.  In  1828,  he  received 
from  Bowdoin  College  the  honorable  and  merited  distinction 
of  Doctor  of  Laws.  He  was  one  of  the  trustees  of  that 
institution  from  1817  to  1836.  In  1826,  he  represented 
Portland  in  the  Legislature,  with  Isaac  Adams  and  Gen. 
Fessenden.  In  1834,  he  was  President  of  the  Maine  Histor- 
ical Society,  having  previously  held  the  office  of  Recording 
Secretary.  He  died  August  3,  1849,  in  the  seventy-fourth 
year  of  his  age. 

In  his  domestic  life,  Mr.  Longfellow  was  as  exemplary  as 
he  was  able  in  public  and  professional  relations.  In  Jan- 
uary, 1804,  he  married  Zilpah,  daughter  of  General  Peleg 
Wadsworth  of  Portland,  with  whom  he  lived  in  uninter- 
rupted happiness  for  more  than  forty-five  years.  She  was  a 
woman  of  fine  manners,  and  of  great  moral  worth.  By  her 
he  had  eight  children,  —  four  sons  and  four  daughters.     The 


STEPHEN   LONGFELLOW.  367 

sons  are  destined  to  transmit  the  name  with  new  luster  to 
posterity,  in  lines  divergent  from  the  parental  profession, — 
poetry,  divinity,  and  science.  The  elder  surviving  son, 
Henry  Wadsworth  Longfellow,  by  his  sweet  and  eloquent 
verse,  has  not  only  made  his  name  vocal  throughout  his  own 
land,  but  has  found  genial  echoes  on  the  otlier  shores  of  the 
ocean,  and  his  numbers  will  be  repeated  in  distant  lands 
and  times,  like  the  songs  of  the  bards  that  have  floated  down 
to  us  through  the  centuries,  which  have  preserved  naught 
else. 

In  all  the  relations  of  private  and  public  life,  Mr.  Long- 
fellow was  a  model  man  ;  kind  and  affectionate  in  his  fam- 
ily, prompt  and  efficient  in  business,  courteous  uniformly, 
ready  with  money  or  service,  whenever  properly  required, 
and  filling  large  places  in  benevolent  and  religious  institu- 
tions. His  death  was  deeply  mourned,  and  tlie  people 
grieved  most  of  all  that  they  should  see  his  face  no  more. 

A  life  so  adorned  could  not  have  been  withdrawn  from  its 
sphere  of  usefulness  without  making  a  palpable  void  ;  and 
I  only  express  the  universal  sentiment  that  was  felt  at  his 
departure,  that  an  able,  upright,  and  Christian  gentleman 
had  gone  :  one  to  whom  may  be  applied  language  iised  in 
regard  to  an  eminent  English  lawyer,  "  that  he  cast  honor 
upon  his  honorable  profession,  and  sought  dignity,  not  from 
the  ermine  or  the  mace,  but  from  a  straight  path  and  a  spot- 
less life." 

The  Bar,  at  a  very  full  meeting,  took  an  honorable  and 
appropriate  notice  of  the  death  of  their  deceased  brother. 
Professor  Greenleaf,  the  particular  friend  and  admirer  of 
Mr.  Longfellow,  and  who  for  many  years  practiced  with  him 
at  the  Cumberland  Bar,  in  reply  to  a  letter  from  another 
friend,  inviting  him  to  attend  the  meeting,  said,  "  Dear 
Brother  Daveis  :  Many  thanks  for  your  kind  letter  and  kind 
remembrance.     It  warms  and  cheers  me.      I  am  strongly 


368  STEPHEN   LONGFELLOW:    WILLIAM   LAMBERT. 

tempted  to  go  down  to  the  Supreme  Court  in  November, 
especially  as  the  meeting  you  anticipate  will  draw  out 
the  qiicc  extant  of  the  Cumberland  Bar,  as  it  was  in  our 
youth.  We  shall  see  Whitman  and  Potter,  possibly  South- 
gate  ;  but  where  are  Orr,  and  Mcllcn,and  Hopkins,  and  the 
rest  of  that  day,  and  now  at  last,  Longfellow  ?  It  will  be  a 
scene  of  lights  and  shadows." 

Professor  Willard,  in  his  "  Memoirs  of  Youth  and  Man- 
hood," in  speaking  of  his  classmate,  Longfellow,  thus 
remarks  :  "  He  was  a  young  man  of  remarkable  maturity 
of  judgment,  and  of  quiet,  afiablc,  and  gentlemanly  man- 
ners and  demeanor,  from  his  first  entrance  within  the  col- 
lege walls  to  his  exit.  His  kindness  and  courtesy  were  so 
unostentatious  and  sincere  that  they  seemed  to  be  innate. 
So  early  was  his  ability  as  a  counsellor  and  advocate  of  his 
younger  fellow-students,  perceived  by  them  and  confided  in, 
that  in  cases  of  doubt  or  difTiculty  in  matters  of  conduct, 
his  advice  was  often  sought  and  followed. 

During  his  long  career  of  professional  service  in  Portland, 
he  was  distinguished  and  respected  no  less  for  the  excellence 
of  his  social  character,  and  for  his  judgment  in  matters  of 
municipal  and  civil  concerns,  than  for  his  talents  and 
integrity  in  the  business  affairs  of  his  chosen  vocation,  as  a 
counselor  at  law.  It  may  truly  be  said  of  the  conduct  of 
his  life,  "  His  own  example  sanctioned  all  his  laws."  Before 
the  meeting  of  his  class  at  the  expiration  of  the  half  cen- 
tury from  the  year  they  graduated,  his  constitution  had 
become  greatly  impaired,  and  his  consc(iuent  absence  was 
deeply  regretted." 

WILLIAM      LAJ\IBERT.      1801  —  1824. 

The  same  year  were  admitted  to  the  bar  in  York  County, 
William  Lambert  and  Benjamin  Greene,  who  both  studied 
with  Dudley  Hubbard,  and  settled  in  South  Berwick  by  the 


WILLIAM   LAMBERT  :    BENJAMIN   GREENE.  369 

side  of  their  teacher.  Mr.  Lambert  was  born  in  Rowley, 
Massachusetts,  July  22, 1778.  Having  been  fitted  fur  college 
at  the  celebrated  Dummer  Academy,  he  entered  Dartmoutli 
College,  from  which  he  took  his  degree  in  1798,  a  classmate 
of  Mr.  Orr,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  in  preceding  pages. 
Mr.  Lambert,  deciding  on  the  practice  of  law  as  his  profes- 
sion, was  attracted  to  the  office  of  Mr.  Hubbard  in  Berwick, 
whose  reputation  as  an  advocate  was  widely  spread.  Having 
passed  through  the  regular  course  of  study,  he  was  duly  ad- 
mitted to  the  bar,  and  opened  an  office  in  South  Berwick. 
Mr.  Lambert  confined  himself  principally  to  office  business, 
and  rarely  appeared  as  an  advocate.  His  business  was  of  a 
profitable  character,  and  was  promptly  attended  to  by  him 
and  to  the  satisfaction  of  his  clients.  He  was  a  man  of  quiet 
habits,  of  good  personal  appearance,  and  a  worthy  citizen  of 
the  town.     He  died  December  11,  1824,  aged  forty-six. 

He  was  twice  married,  first  to  Rhoda  Hastings  of  St. 
Jolmsbury,  Vermont  ;  second,  to  Abigail,  daughter  of  Eben- 
ezer  Rickcr  of  Somcrsworth,  New  Hampshire.  He  left  two 
children,  a  son  and  a  daughter  :  the  son  is  the  Rev.  Thomas 
Ricker  Lambert,  Rector  of  the  Episcopal  church  in  Charles- 
town,  Massachusetts  ;  the  daughter  is  the  wife  of  the  Hon. 
John  P.  Hale,  Senator  in  Congress  from  New  Hampshire. 

Mr.  Lambert's  son,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Ricker  Lambert, 
prepared  himself  for  the  profession  of  law,  and  was,  for  a 
time,  in  the  oflicc  of  Judge  Emery  in  Portland.  But  a 
change  coming  over  his  views  of  life,  he  devoted  himself  to 
Christ  and  the  church-  He  received  from  Brown  University 
the  honorary  degree  of  A.  M.  in  1845. 

BENJAMIN     GREENE.       1801  —  1837. 

Benjamin  Greene  was  the  second  son  and  fourth  child  of 
Benjamin  Grocnc  and  Martha  Brown  of  Wultham,  Massa- 


370  BENJAMIN   GREENE. 

clmsetts,  and  was  born  in  that  place  May  5, 1764.  He  grad- 
uated at  Harvard  College  in  the  class  of  1784,  which  con- 
tained the  honored  names  of  Professor  Abbott  of  Bowdoin 
College,  Silas  Lee,  Chief  Justice  Mellen,  Benjamin  Pickman 
of  Salem,  and  President  Webber  of  Harvard  College.  He 
studied  divinity,  and  was  settled  in  Medway,  Massachusetts, 
in  the  ministry,  June,  1788.  He  was  dismissed  from  the 
pastoral  office  in  1793,  and  went  to  Marblehead,  where  ho 
remained  a  few  years  engaged  in  teaching.  In  1797,  he  was 
invited  to  take  charge  of  the  Berwick  Academy  :  accepting 
this  proposal,  he  moved  to  that  place,  and  entered  upon  the 
course  of  instruction  in  that  seminary.  While  pursuing  the 
duties  of  Preceptor,  he  had  his  name  entered  in  the  office  of 
Dudley  Hubbard  as  a  student  at  law.  In  1801,  he  closed 
his  vocation  as  an  instructor  of  youth,  was  admitted  to  the 
bar,  and  entered  at  once,  full  fledged  for  law  and  politics 
on  a  hearty  pursuit  of  both. 

Mr.  Greene  commenced  practice  with  great  advantages ; 
he  had  a  mature,  well-cultivated  mind  ;  he  had  large  knowl- 
edge of  the  world,  and  varied  experience  ;  he  had  a  good 
voice,  easy  manners,  was  a  fluent  speaker,  and  had  abundant 
confidence  in  himself.  He  therefore  moved  forward  with 
considerable  rapidity  ;  he  took  an  active  part  in  the  various 
interests  of  the  town,  parochial  and  educational,  in  which 
his  experience  gave  wisdom  to  his  counsels.  In  1809,  he  was 
elected  a  representative  to  the  General  Court,  and  was  re- 
elected in  1810,  1811,  1813,  1815,  1816,  1817,  and  1819 : 
he  was  a  member  of  the  convention  of  1819  which  formed  the 
Constitution  of  Maine,  took  an  active  part  in  the  debates  of 
that  learned  body,  and  was  one  of  the  committee  to  make 
application  to  Congress  for  the  admission  of  the  State  into 
the  Union. 

While  a  member  of  tlie  Legislature  in  1811,  in  the  admin- 
istration of  Governor  Gerry,  the  old  Court  oi  Common  Pleas, 


BENJAMIN   GREENE.  371 

which  had  existed  from  the  days  of  the  charter,  was  abol- 
ished, and  a  new  system  was  established  called  the  "  Circuit 
Courts  of  Common  Pleas,"  by  which  the  Commonwealth 
and  Maine  were  divided  into  circuits,  in  each  of  which  a 
chief  justice  and  two  associates  were  appointed.  Maine  was 
divided  into  three  circuits,  "  the  first  Eastern  Circuit,"  em- 
braced the  counties  of  York,  Cumberland,  and  Oxford  ;  over 
this  branch  Mr.  Greene  was  appointed  chief  justice,  and 
Judah  Dana  and  William  Widgery,  associates.  Judge 
Greene  entered  with  vigor  and  vivacity  upon  this  new  sphere 
of  action,  and  discharged  its  duties  with  great  promptness 
and  fidelity.  He  magnified  his  office,  and  upheld  the  dignity 
of  the  bench  with  scrupulous  exactness ;  was  somewhat 
formal  and  precise  in  his  manner,  not  to  say,  pompous, 
and  although  not  a  very  learned  judge,  he  conducted  the 
business  of  the  court  with  urbanity,  impartiality,  and  integ- 
rity. He  held  the  office  until  the  establishment  of  the 
new  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  which  took  place  under  the 
act  of  Maine,  passed  February  4,  1822.  He  had  been,  for 
several  years  before  this  appointment,  a  special  justice  of  the 
old  court  of  Common  Pleas  for  sessions  business,  and  held 
the  office  of  county  attorney. 

In  1824,  Judge  Greene  was  again  called  to  represent  his 
town  in  the  Legislature,  and  was  chosen  Speaker  of  the  House. 
In  September  of  the  same  year,  he  was  appointed  by  President 
Adams,  Marshal  of  Maine,  as  successor  to  Thomas  G.  Thornton 
of  Saco,  who  had  held  the  office  from  1803.  This  was  his  last 
public  service,  which,  ending  in  1830,  he  moved  to  Athens, 
in  Maine,  where  his  son.  Dr.  Benjamin  F.  Greene,  then  re- 
sided, and  passed  the  remainder  of  his  life  in  a  peaceful  re- 
tirement, to  its  close,  October  15, 1837,  in  the  seventy-fourth 
year  of  his  age.     His  wife  had  died  in  1830. 

Judge  Greene  was  short  in  stature,  and  of  a  full  figure  ; 
his  features  were  large,  and  his  complexion  dark.     He  was 


372  BENJAMIN   GREENE  :    WILLIAM   ABBOT. 

an  easy  and  rather  graceful  speaker,  used  good  language  and 
had  a  powerful  voice  ;  his  manner  was  inflated,  and  his  ges- 
ticulation somewhat  overdone.  But  he  was,  in  general, 
popular  as  a  speaker,  and  did  not  avoid  occasions  for  display. 
He  was  not  a  profound  lawyer,  but  presided  very  well  in 
a  court  which  was  not  called  upon  to  pronounce  final  de- 
cisions. 

Judge  Greene  married  Lydia  Clark,  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
Jonas  Clark  of  Lexington,  Massachusetts,  the  worthy  min- 
ister of  that  town  for  half  a  century,  through  the  trying 
conflicts  of  the  Revolution,  who  died  in  1805.  His  daugh- 
ter Lydia  was  born  there  in  17G8.  By  her  Judge  Greene 
left  five  sons  ;  he  had  no  daughters.  His  oldest  son,  Benjamin 
Franklin,  a  physician,  who  resided  at  Athens,  now  at  Park- 
man  ;  and  Frederick,  a  lawyer  at  Saco,  —  only  survive.  His 
son  Charles,  born  at  Marblehead,  Feb.  21,  1796,  graduated 
at  Dartmouth  College  in  1811,  a  classmate  of  Judge  Sliep- 
ley,  Judge  Parker  of  the  Cambridge  Law  School,  and  other 
prominent  men,  was  a  successful  lawyer,  first  in  South  Ber- 
wick and  then  at  Athens,  Maine  ;  was  a  senator  in  the  Leg- 
islature in  1835  ;  councillor  in  1836,  and  several  years  judge 
of  Probate  for  Somerset  County.  He  married  Sarah  Saw- 
telle  of  Norridgewock,  by  whom  he  had  several  children. 
He  died  August  24, 1852.  Another  son,  Henry  Bowen  Clark, 
was  a  distinguised  physician  in  Boston,  where  he  died  in 
18-48.     His  other  son,  Bowen  Clark,  was  a  lawyer  in  Saco. 

WILLIAM     ABBOT.      1801  — 184 'J. 

For  the  following  interesting  sketch,  I  am  indebted  mainly 
to  the  hand  of  a  relative  and  friend  of  the  sul)ject.  It 
was  my  good  fortune  to  know  Mr.  Abbot  with  consider- 
able intimacy,  and  I  take  much  pleasure  in  adding  my  tes- 
timony to  this  just  and  beautiful  tribute  to  his  memory. 


WILLIAM    ABBOT.  373 

William  Abbot  was  born  at  "Wilton,  Hillsboro'  County, 
New  Hampshire,  November  15,  1773.  His  father,  William 
Abbot,  was  a  native  of  Andover,  Massachusetts,  where  he 
married  Phebe,  daughter  of  Timothy  Ballard,  also  of  Ando- 
ver, who  was  the  mother  of  the  subject  of  this  notice.  Mr. 
Abbot,  the  father,  moved,  early  in  life,  from  Andover,  the 
place  of  his  nativity,  to  Wilton,  where  he  settled  as  a  farmer, 
and  where  he  died,  in  1793,  in  the  full  vigor  of  his  powers, 
at  the  age  of  forty-six  years,  having  the  iinqualilied  respect 
of  his  fellow-citizens.  He  was  a  member  of  the  State  Con- 
vention of  New  Hampshire,  which,  in  1788,  adopted  the 
constitution  of  the  United  States.  He  was  a  descendant  in 
the  fifth  degree  from  the  American  ancestor  of  the  family, 
George  Abbot,  who,  in  1644,  emigrated  from  Yorkshire  in 
England,  and  Avas  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  Andover.  The 
farm  originally  taken  up  by  him  remains  in  the  Abbot  fam- 
ily to  the  present  time. 

Young  Abbot  passed  his  early  years  upon  the  paternal 
farm  in  "Wilton  ;  and  there  he  probably  acquired  the  love  for 
horticulture  which  he  carried  with  him  through  life.  He 
began  preparation  for  college  in  his  native  town,  in  1790,  in 
the  town  school,  under  the  care  of  Jonathan  Fisher,  then 
an  undergraduate  of  Harvard  College,  and  subsequently 
settled  in  the  ministry  at  Bluehill,  Maine.  After  due  prep- 
aration, he  entered  Harvard  College,  where  he  ever  main- 
tained a  high  character  for  industry  and  moral  worth.  He 
was  graduated  at  the  Commencement  in  1797,  delivering  a 
poem  on  th-c  occasion  on  his  favorite  subject,  "  Music." 
Among  his  classmates  who  subsequently  arose  to  eminence, 
were  the  late  Dr.  John  C.  Warren,  and  the  Hon.  Horace 
Binney  of  Philadelphia,  who  was  Mr.  Abbot's  room-mate. 
With  both  of  these  gentlemen,  he  maintained  relations  of 
intimate  friendship  to  the  close  of  his  life. 

Mr.  Abbot  had  a  fine  natural  taste  for  music,  and  in  his 


374  WILLIAM   ABBOT. 

early  years  he  taught  vocal  music  in  Connecticut  and  Mas- 
sachusetts. On  leaving  college,  he  commenced  the  study 
of  law  with  William  Gordon  of  Amherst,  New  Hampshire, 
an  eminent  lawyer,  and  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  in  1779. 
Having  completed  a  full  course  of  professional  study,  in 
1800,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar.  He  removed  from  his 
native  State  to  the  then  District  of  Maine,  in  1801,  and  com- 
menced the  practice  of  law  at  Castine,  in  Hancock  County, 
■where  he  remained  for  nearly  thirty  years,  assiduously  en- 
gaged in  the  practice  of  his  profession.  In  May,  1802,  Mr. 
Abbot  married  Rebecca,  daughter  of  Dr.  Israel  and  Rebecca 
(Stevens)  Atherton  ;  he  was  a  distinguished  physician,  resid- 
ing in  Lancaster,  Massachusetts. 

In  a  brief  biographical  sketch,  by  Hon.  Jacob  McGaw,  a 
distinguished  member  of  the  Penobscot  Bar,  in  reference  to 
Mr.  Abbot's  professional  life  at  Castine,  he  says,  "  His  entire 
devotion  to  all  the  proprieties  of  life,  and  his  constant 
attendance  at  his  place  of  business,  did  not  pass  unobserved 
by  the  merchants  and  other  energetic  men,  among  whom  he 
had  come  to  live.  All  of  his  surroundings  indicated  that  he 
was  worthy  of  the  confidence  of  a  virtuous  people.  His  sub- 
sequent life  supplied  complete  confirmation  of  the  correct- 
ness of  its  foreshadowings." 

Mr.  Abbot  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  people  among 
whom  he  had  taken  up  his  residence,  not  only  in  their  busi- 
ness relations,  but  also  as  a  public  agent.  He  held  the  office 
of  Register  of  Probate  eighteen  years  from  1803,  until  the 
separation.  In  1816,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  electors 
of  President  and  Vice  President,  on  the  ticket  with  Cliris- 
topher  Gore,  Prentiss  Melleii,  Israel  Thorndike,  William 
Phillips,  and  others :  the  vote  of  the  college  was  given  entire 
to  Rufus  King,  who  received  but  thirty-four  out  of  the  two 
hundred  and  seventeen  votes  cast.  In  181C,  he  was  chosen 
a  member  of  the  Brunswick  Convention.      His  town,  Cas- 


WILLIAM    ABBOT.  375 

tine,  was  strongly  opposed  to  separation,  having  given  seven 
votes  in  favor  to  sixty-five  against  the  measure :  he,  of 
course,  represented  the  sentiment  of  his  people,  and  de- 
nounced the  action  of  that  body.  In  1819,  he  was  a  member 
of  the  convention  which  met  at  Portland  and  framed  tlie 
constitution  under  which  we  live,  and  was  on  the  committee 
to  select  the  baptismal  name  of  the  new  State. 

He  was  a  representative  in  the  first  Legislature  of  the 
State,  and  in  those  of  1823,  1826,  and  1827,  in  all  of  which 
he  was  an  industrious,  useful,  and  intelligent  member, 
watching  carefully,  as  it  was  our  fortune  to  know,  with  deep 
interest  all  that  related  to  the  honor  and  welfare  of  the  new 
republic. 

"  In  1829,  Mr.  Abbot  removed  to  Bangor,  where  he  soon 
established  for  himself  the  substantial  and  dignified  reputa- 
tion he  had  previously  earned,  and  worthily  worn  in  the 
county  of  his  former  labors."  Here  the  popular  confidence 
in  him  was  soon  manifested  by  his  election  to  places  of  pub- 
lic trust.  He  was,  for  a  considerable  time,  a  member  of  the 
Board  of  Selectmen  of  the  town  before  its  adoption  of  a  city 
government ;  and  chairman  of  the  board  when  that  change 
was  made.  He  was  chairman  of  the  committee  chosen  to 
draw  up  a  charter  for  the  prospective  city,  and  the  charter 
adopted  was  almost  wholly  his  work.  He  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  superintending  school  committee  of  the  town  of 
Bangor,  and  after  the  adoption  of  the  city  charter,  he  was 
chairman  of  the  board  some  twelve  years.  In  connection 
with  his  official  labors  in  this  department,  the  sketch  before 
quoted  from,  continues,  "  Under  his  fostering  care,  a  system 
and  grade  of  schools,  teachers,  and  tasteful  structures,  which 
it  is  believed  has  no  superiors  in  the  State,  was  developed 
and  completed.  A  beautiful  plat,  containing  about  three 
acres,  was  purchased  by  the  city,  stocked  with  handsome 
shade  trees,  and  ornamented  with  pleasant  gravel  walks. 


376  WILLIAM    ABBOT. 

Then,  by  a  vote  of  the  city  council,  it  received  the  honored 
and  merited  appellation  of  '  Abbot  Square.'  The  plat  is 
set  apart  for  the  exclusive  use  of  schools,  with  suitable  play 
grounds  for  the  children.  Confidence  in  this  estimable  man 
was  further  manifested  by  his  being  elected  to  the  onicc  of 
mayor  of  the  city  in  the  year  1848.  Again,  in  the  succeed- 
ing year,  he  was  elected  with  great  unanimity  to  the  same 
office.  But  he  soon  finished  the  work  that  had  been  assigned 
him  on  earth.  In  August  of  this  year  he  died,  and  was 
deeply  mourned." 

The  intellect  of  Mr.  Abbot  was  clear,  strong,  and  dis- 
criminating, rather  than  brilliant,  imaginative,  and  original. 
It  was  well-balanced  and  logical ;  its  pre-eminent  charac- 
teristic was  practical  common  sense,  constituting  the  pos- 
sessor of  it  a  man  of  sound,  reliable  judgment.  As  an 
advocate  and  a  public  speaker,  he  was  not  an  eloquent  man, 
in  the  popular  sense  of  that  word.  His  eloquence  consisted 
in  his  earnestness,  his  sincerity,  his  deep  conviction.  But 
he  possessed  great  influence  with  juries,  whose  reason  and 
sense  of  moral  right  he  addressed,  rather  than  their  feelings 
or  their  prejudices.  He  never  allowed  the  advocate's  desire 
of  success  to  obscure  or  prevail  over  the  moral  convictions 
of  the  man  ;  and  therefore,  when  he  expressed  an  opinion, 
unqualifiedly,  to  the  jury,  they  knew  it  to  be  the  sincere 
conviction  of  the  man,  not  the  partial  view  of  the  advo- 
cate. He  was  regarded  by  his  legal  brethren  and  compeers 
as  a  sound  lawyer,  thoroughly  read  in  his  profession,  learned, 
astute,  and  able,  and  was  greatly  respected  by  them. 

In  his  opinions  and  in  his  character,  Mr.  Abbot,  both  by 
nature  and  by  haljit,  was  consenative.  Yet  a  rational,  not 
a  })lind  conservatism  —  one  which  not  only  receives,  but 
demands  progress ;  a  conservatism  which  will  not  accept  all 
change  as  progress,  nor  all  destruction  as  improvement ; 
but  a  conservatism  which,  while  putting  forth  its  aspirations 


WILLIAM   ABBOT.  377 

and  its  efforts  for  the  higher  and  the  better,  still  labors  to 
"  prove  all  things,"  and  to  "  hold  fast  that  which  is  good." 

In  politics,  Mr.  Al)bot  was  a  disciple  of  Washington, 
Hamilton,  Jay,  and  Ames,  —  a  worthy  and  consistent  mem- 
ber of  the  old  Federal  party,  the  principles  and  measures  of 
which  had  been  inaugurated,  developed,  sustained,  and 
adorned  by  the  efforts  and  toils  of  those  illustrious  patriots. 
Of  this  party  he  continued  to  be  a  member  so  long  as  it 
existed  as  a  distinct  organization.  In  the  latter  years  of  his 
life,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Whig  party. 

In  his  religious  views,  from  examination  and  conviction, 
he  was  a  firm  and  decided  Unitarian  Christian  of  the  school 
of  Noah  Worcester,  Channing,  and  the  Wares.  In  the  form- 
ation of  his  opinions,  he  was  independent.  Eminent  names 
had  but  little  influence  over  him.  Upon  all  subjects  which 
he  regarded  as  important,  he  formed  his  opinions  slowly  and 
with  much  caution.  And  when,  after  thorough  and  patient 
examination,  he  had  come  to  adopt  an  opinion  through  con- 
viction of  its  truth,  he  held  it  persistently.  Yet  he  was  not 
a  bigot,  but  he  was  always  ready  to  receive  and  honestly 
weigh  new  evidence,  to  accept  new  light  upon  every  subject. 
Firmly  as  he  held  his  own  views,  he  was  always  tolerant, 
liberal,  and  courteous  to  those  from  whom  he  differed. 

The  universal  respect  awarded  to  Mr.  Abbot,  and  the  con- 
fidence and  trust  reposed  in  him  by  those  who  differed  most 
widely  from  him  upon  political,  theological,  and  other  sub- 
jects, bear  unquestioned  testimony  to  his  sound  judgment, 
and  not  less  to  his  disinterestedness,  his  integrity,  his  sincer- 
ity, and  his  conscientiousness.  Throughout  his  whole  life, 
from  childhood  to  old  age,  he  maintained  a  pure  and  well- 
balanced  character.  He  was  singularly  unselfish,  liberal, 
and  public-spirited.  With  a  native  delicacy  of  feeling,  and 
reserve  amounting  almost  to  diflidence,  he  was  liable  to  be 
regarded  as  unsympathetic  and  cold.     Yet  those  who  were 

25 


378  WILLIAM  ABBOT. 

acquainted  with  liim  in  his  family  relations,  and  in  the  inti- 
macies of  private  friendship,  knew  how  (|uick  and  broad 
were  his  sympathies,  and  how  strong  and  enduring  were  his 
attachments. 

In  person,  Mr.  Abbot  was  fully  six  feet  in  height,  of  rather 
spare  form,  but  of  remarkable  muscular  power.  The  nat- 
ural expression  of  his  countenance  when  in  repose  was  dig- 
nified and  grave  ;  but  when  moved  by  the  gentle  emotions, 
its  expression  became  amiable  and  beneficent,  with  a  pecu- 
liarly winning  sweetness.  *•'  He  is  a  good  man,"  was  the 
earnest  c  vclamation  of  a  child  who  had  received  one  of  his 
pleasant  smiles  ;  and  when  excited  by  quiet  humor,  of  which 
he  had  a  keen  appreciation,  it  lighted  up  with  mirthful 
animatioii. 

Upon  the  Sunday  after  his  interment,  a  just  and  discrim- 
inative discourse  upon  his  character  was  preached  by  Dr.  F. 
H.  Hedge,  then  in  charge  of  the  Unitarian  Society  in  Ban- 
gor. An  extract  from  that  discourse  will  conclude  this 
notice. 

"  As  a  public  functionary,  Mr.  Abbot  was  distinguished 
by  entire  devotion  to  the  trust  assigned  him,  by  a  wise 
regard  to  the  public  good,  and  a  conscientious  discharge  of 
the  duties  he  assumed.  It  is  not,  however,  as  a  public  officer, 
whatever  the  ability,  his  knowledge  or  his  zeal,  that  we  love 
best  to  remember  him,  but  as  a  private  citizen  —  as  a  man. 
His  character  was  remarkable  for  its  harmony ;  a  character 
in  which  no  passion  or  sentiment  was  unduly  prominent, 
but  all  combined  in  just  proportion,  each  in  its  order,  each 
within  bounds,  each  subservient  to  all  the  rest,  and  all  sub- 
jected to  the  moral  sense  which  reigned  supreme  in  his 
heart  and  life.  Characters  so  constkuted  are  not  apt  to 
become  famous,  unless  placed  by  accident  in  a  commanding 
position  ;  but  place  them  where  you  will,  they  act  with 
beneficent  effect  on  the  sphere  in  which  they  move  ;   they 


WILLIAM   ABBOT.  379 

are  the  strength  and  marrow  of  the  state.  It  is  the  prom- 
inence of  some  one  quality  that  makes  the  great  man ;  it 
is  the  balance  of  all  the  (qualities  proper  to  humanity  that 
makes  the  useful  man. 

Mr.  Abbot  was  not  ambitious;  he  sought  no  distinction, 
he  sought  no  office.  In  these  days  of  selfish  competition, 
when  the  spoils  of  party  and  the  lust  of  place  are  tempting 
so  many  from  the  paths  of  useful  industry,  and  making  pol- 
itics a  scramble  for  prizes  and  a  name  for  intrigue,  he  was 
content  to  labor  from  year  to  year,  with  no  other  emolument 
than  the  slow  returns  and  ordinary  gains  of  his  profession  ; 
and  while  in  politics  he  took  a  decided  stand,  he  did  it  from 
conviction,  and  not  from  calculation ;  and  asked  nothing 
from  government,  but  to  leave  him  undisturbed  in  the 
peaceful  pursuit  of  his  calling.  He  coveted  no  man's  goods, 
he  asked  no  man's  vote,  he  sacrificed  nothing  to  popularity, 
nothing  to  the  fear  or  favor  of  men.  Whatever  of  popular- 
ity he  enjoyed,  was  unbought  and  unsought.  Too  proud  to 
beg,  too  honest  to  intrigue,  too  meek  to  claim,  he  lived  by 
labor,  and  continued  to  labor  at  threescore  years  and  ten, 
as  he  had  labored  at  two-score,  and  "  honest  poverty  "  pre- 
ferred to  "  gainful  perjury."  A  conscientious  man,  quick  to 
perceive,  and  strict  to  interpret,  the  claims  of  duty  ;  a  man 
whose  chief  aim  and  constant  study  it  was  to  do  right  and 
to  render  unto  all  their  dues.  If  I  should  say  that  he  was 
an  honest  man,  I  should  do  imperfect  justice  to  my  concep- 
tion of  his  character  in  this  regard.  Let  me  rather  say,  a 
man  in  whom  honesty  was  incarnate  ;  whom  no  conceival)le 
bribe  could  have  tempted  to  swerve  from  the  strict  integrity 
of  his  life  ;  with  whose  character  aught  of  meanness  or 
obliquity  refused  even  in  imagination  to  combine.  Honor 
and  probity  composed  the  aroma  of  his  name. 

Mr.  Abbot  was  a  religious  man,  a  Christian  by  confession 
and  by  practice  ;  uniting  the  performance  of  Christian  ordi- 


880  WILLIAM   abbot:    WILLIAM   CROSBY. 

nances,  and  exhibiting  the  best  fruits  of  the  Christian  spirit 
in  his  character  and  hfe.  While,  for  his  own  part,  he  em- 
braced, with  his  whole  soul,  that  form  of  doctrine  which  is 
commonly  called  Unitarian,  he  was  tolerant  of  all  opinions, 
honestly  formed  and  sincerely  held,  and  sought  the  proofs  of 
the  Christian  character,  not  in  the  creed  but  in  the  life.  It 
is  no  small  praise  to  say  of  any  man,  what  in  strictest  truth 
may  be  said  of  him,  that  he  was  blameless,  and  led  from  the 
first  commencement  of  his  active  existence  until  its  close,  a 
blameless  life.  To  be  possessed  of  some  one  distinguished 
virtue  is  less  infrequent  than  to  be  without  reproach.  He 
was  one  to  whom  no  scandal  or  breath  of  suspicion  could 
ever  attach, — whose  pure  fame  no  obloquy  ever  dared  to 
assail, — whom  to  know  was  to  respect,  whom  to  name  was 
to  praise." 

WILLIAM     CROSBY.      180  2  —  1830. 

We  cannot  better  follow  our  notice  of  Mr.  Abbot  than  by 
introducing  here  a  brief  biography  of  one  of  his  contempo- 
raries of  the  same  admirable  qualities  which  Ave  have  shown 
that  he  possessed.  Judge  Crosby  was  his  contemporary  in 
college  and  at  the  bar.  They  were  of  strong  kindred  sym- 
pathies in  religion  and  politics,  and  were  guided  in  all  their 
conduct  by  the  same  sterling  principles  in  morals. 

Judge  Crosby's  earliest  American  ancestor  was  Simon  of 
Cambridge,  who  came  over  in  the  Susan  and  Ellen  in  1635, 
at  the  age  of  twenty-six,  with  Ann,  his  wife,  and  son  Thomas, 
but  eight  weeks  old.  His  son  Simon,  born  in  1G37,  moved 
to  Billerica,  Massachusetts,  and  was  the  head  of  that  branch 
of  the  family.  Thomas,  the  eldest  son  of  the  first  Simon, 
born  in  England,  was  the  head  of  the  Cape  Cod  family  ; 
and  Joseph,  born  in  1G39,  was  head  of  the  Braintrce  stock, 


WILLIAM   CROSBY.  381 

the  ancestor,  as  Gov.  Crosby  informs  me,  of  the  Major 
Crosby,  an  acting  justice  of  Billcrica,  in  whose  court  tlie 
elder  President  Adams  first  fleshed  his  maiden  sword  ;  and 
also  of  the  several  Professors  Crosby,  of  considerable  liter- 
ary fame. 

The  Governor  adds,  "  I  have  heard  my  father  remark 
that  if  any  of  his  descendants  ever  attained  to  any  eminence, 
it  would  be  through  their  own  merits,  not  those  of  their 
ancestors ;  for  that  the  highest  position  in  church  or  state 
ever  occupied  by  any  of  his  ancestors,  was  that  of  first 
selectman,  deacon,  or  captain  of  a  military  company  ;  adding 
that  he  found  comfort  in  the  fact  that  no  one  of  them,  to 
his  knowledge,  had  ever  been  hung !"  This  is  a  pleasant 
piece  of  badinage,  but  not  exactly  true,  for  we  find  that  even 
the  first  Billerica  Simon  was  several  times  chosen  a  repre- 
sentative to  the  General  Court,  first  in  1692,  at  a  time  when 
the  office  was  really  a  mark  of  distinction ;  other  honors 
have  waited  on  the  family. 

Judge  Crosby  was  born  in  Billerica,  June  3,  1770.  His 
father  was  a  farmer  in  moderate  circumstances,  and  his  son 
William  was  destined  to  the  same  occupation  ;  but  at  the 
age  of  seven  years,  one  of  those  events  occurred,  which,  as 
in  numerous  other  cases,  so  much  so  as  to  seem  Providen- 
tial, changed  the  course  of  his  future  life.  Playing  about 
a  cider  mill  while  in  operation,  his  right  hand  was  caught 
in  the  machinery,  and  his  arm  was  drawn  in  nearly  to  the 
shoulder,  and  so  crushed  as  to  cripple  it  for  life.  This  dis- 
qualified him  for  manual  labor,  and  he  could  not  even  use  it 
in  writing  —  he  always  wrotcwith  his  left  hand. 

This  event,  seemingly  sad  and  dishcai'tcning,  was  full  of 
precious  hopes  and  results :  the  necessary  resort  was  an 
education,  for  which  he  soon  began  to  ])repare.  But  he  had 
to  struggle  with  poverty  and  adverse  circumstances.  At 
the  age  of  seventeen,  he  began  to  teach  school  and  prepare 


382  WILLIAM   CROSBY. 

for  college,  the  latter  portion  being  accomplislicd  at  the 
Phillips  Academy,  Andover,  then  under  the  care  of  Master 
Pemberton.  He  entered  Harvard  College,  1790,  and  took 
his  degree  in  regular  course,  in  1704.  Among  his  class- 
mates were  Rev.  Timothy  Alden,  William  Bigelow,  better 
known  among  his  college  companions  as  "  Sawney  "  Bige- 
low, and  the  late  Professor  McKcan  of  Harvard.  Not  one 
of  the  class  is  living  :  Rev.  Isaac  Braman  was  the  last  sur- 
vivor. The  class  was  made  somewhat  famous  by  Bigclow's 
"  classology,"  or  class  song,  which  was  sung  and  remem- 
bered many  years  after,  through  the  college  halls :  it  pre- 
serves, like  Goldsmith's  "  Retaliation,"  some  striking  char- 
acteristic of  each  scholar.  Tlie  rythmical  measure  was  in 
imitation  of  the  "Heathen  Mythology,"  a  popular  song  of 
that  day,  "  Songs  of  Shepherds  in  rustical  roundelays." 
A  few  stanzas  of  this  Bacchanalian  extravaganza  will  show 
its  spirit  and  character : 

"  Witty  George  Appleton,^  high  blooded  Athcrton,^ 
Rigadoon  Atkinson  3  joined  the  high  Go. 

Here  little  high  Sawney,'^  call'd  Bigelow,  appeared  in  view, 
Amid  the  full  chorus  distending  his  lungs. 

Now  jovial  Charming^  kindled  merriment  fanning, 
Was  never  for  ganging  while  liquor  would  flow  ; 
And  Crosby,  the  blood,  would  be  damn'd  if  he  would, 
Sneak  off  if  he  could,  and  not  join  the  high  Go. 

I  Appleton  died  in  1808. 

S*  Charles  II.  Atherton,  a  distinguished  lawyer  of  New  Hampshire,  and 
Representative  in  Congress,  died  1853. 

3  John  Atkinson  died  1838. 

4  William  Bigelow  died  Januarj'  12,  1844,  in  Boston,  aged  seventy.  Allen, 
in  his  Biographical  Dictionary,  says  of  him,  "  He  was  a  wit,  writer  of  poe- 
try, editor  of  several  periodicals,  and  author  of  a  history  of  his  native  town, 
Natick,  and  of  Sherburne.  He  unhappily  disregarded  the  laws  of  Temper- 
ance." 

5  Francis  Dana  Channing,  brother  of  Rev.  Dr.  Channing,  died  iu  1810. 
He  was  a  lawyer  in  Boston. 


WILLIAM   CROSBY.  •  883 

While  Braman  1  split  razor,  buffoon  of  pleasure, 
Made  fun  without  measure,  to  assist  the  high  Go. 

From  Pike's  learned  page,  came  McKean  2  in  a  rage. 
The  full  vessels  to  guage,  boys,  and  bless  the  high  Go." 

Mr.  Crosby,  on  leaving  college,  took  charge,  for  a  year,  o 
the  Aurian  Academy  at  Amherst,  New  Hampshire,  on  a 
salary  of  seventy-five  pounds  lawful  money  a  year  :  after 
which  he  pursued  the  study  of  law  two  years  in  the  office  of 
William  Gordon,  a  very  prominent  lawyer  in  Amherst.  His 
third  year  was  spent  under  the  care  of  Samuel  Dana  at 
Groton,  when  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Middlesex 
County  in  1798,  and  immediately  opened  an  office  in  his 
native  town.  He  remained  here  three  years,  but  being 
desirous  of  changing  his  location,  he  made  a  tour  of  explor- 
ation into  Maine,  which  then  seemed  to  be  a  land  of  prom- 
ise to  young  lawyers,  a  promise  often  broken  to  their  hopes  ; 
not,  however,  to  the  hopes  of  the  truly  persevering  and 
meritorious,  as  our  record  fully  shows.  He  at  first  pro- 
posed to  settle  in  Bangor,  which  then  was  a  wild  and  un- 
cultivated field  ;  but  finally  determined  on  Belfast,  to  which 
place  he  moved  January  2,  1802.  Mr.  Crosby  was  the 
second  lawyer  who  settled  in  Belfast :  Bohan  P.  Field  had 
preceded  him  a  short  time.  It  was  then  a  small  place, 
containing  but  about  eight  hundred  inhabitants,  but  was 
favorably  situated  on  a  beautiful  harbor  and  bay,  which 
gave  encouragement  of  a  rapidly  increasing  business.  The 
town  belonged  to  Hancock  County,  the  shire  of  which  was 
Castine,  on  the  opposite  side  of  Penobscot  Bay.  This  con- 
nection continued  during  nearly  the  whole  of  Mr.  Crosby's 

1  Rev.  Isaac  Braman,  pastor  of  the  church  in  Georgetown  sixty -one  years, 
died  in  1858,  aged  eighty-eight,  honored  and  respected. 

2  Prof.  McKean  of  Cambridge,  died  in   1818,  eminent  for  learning  and 
piety. 


384  WILLIAM   CROSBY. 

practice,  the  bar  containing  many  able  lawyers.  It  was  at 
this  bar  that  Chief  Justice  Parker,  Isaac  ►^tory,  William 
Abbot,  and  John  Wilson  commenced  their  professional 
lives  ;  and  here,  as  young  practitioners,  early  came  Allen 
Oilman,  Jacob  McGaw,  and  AVilliam  Crosby.  Abbot, 
Wilson,  Oilman,  and  McOaw  were  the  competitors  through 
a  series  of  years  in  the  practice  of  Hancock,  which  em- 
braced also  what  is  now  Penobscot  County,  and  also  in 
Washington  County  on  the  east,  and  Lincoln  on  the  west. 
On  this  large  circuit,  these  and  other  lawyers  traveled  and 
labored,  and  there  often  encountered  the  adroit  and  experi- 
enced advocates  of  the  older  parts  of  the  State, —  Mcllen, 
Wilde,  Orr,  Lee,  &c.,  who  were  accustomed  to  travel  the 
circuit.  In  this  honorable  competition,  Mr.  Crosby  ably 
sustained  himself,  not  only  as  a  sound  and  honest  lawyer, 
but  as  an  ingenious  and  popular  advocate.  For  several 
years,  in  the  early  part  of  his  practice,  he  was  county  attor- 
ney, which  made  him  familiar  with  the  criminal  side  of  the 
court.  A  gentleman  of  the  profession,  ^  a  townsman,  and 
competent  to  speak  on  this  point,  said  in  a  well-prepared 
notice  of  his  death,  "  As  a  sound,  practical  lawyer,  he  filled 
the  largest  space  in  the  community,  and  will  the  longest  be 
remembered  as  the  safe  counsellor,  the  able  advisor,  and  the 
eloquent  advocate.  His  clear,  logical  mind  readily  compre- 
hended the  most  complicated  questions.  He  at  once  ana- 
lyzed and  seized  upon  the  strong  points  of  the  case,  enforcing 
his  views  and  positions  upon  the  minds  of  the  jury  with  that 
clearness  of  illustration  and  that  force  of  reasoning  which 
were  always  effective  and  often  irresistible."  Another  law- 
yer, and  a  competent  witness  in  the  case,  thus  speaks  of  his 
merits  :  he  says,  "  There  was  one  trait  in  the  character  of 
Mr.  Crosby  as  a  lawyer,  which  contributed  much  to  secure 

1  Hiram  0.  Alden. 


WILLIABI   CROSBY.     "  385 

the  high  reputation  which  he  had  acquired.  No  considera- 
tion would  induce  him  to  undertake  the  prosecution  or 
defense  of  an  action,  unless  morally  convinced  that  the 
ground  of  his  client  was  maintainable."  Again,  the  same 
writer  says,  "  As  an  advocate,  he  possessed  a  clear,  musical 
voice,  and  a  happy  power  of  illustration.  He  was  lucid  and 
logical  in  his  reasoning,  fluent  in  his  enunciation,  never  at 
a  loss  for  the  most  appropriate  language  to  express  his  ideas. 
He  knew  how  to  seize  and  dwell  upon  the  strong  points  in 
his  cause.  He  could  be  playful  or  witty,  or  embellish  with 
the  flowers  of  rhetoric  as  occasion  might  require  :  his  elo- 
quence was  of  the  most  attractive  character."  Mr.  McGaw, 
whose  competency  to  pronounce  nobody  will  deny,  says, 
"  Mr.  Crosby  was  generally  deemed  to  be  the  ablest  advo- 
cate and  best  lawyer  then  living  Jn  the  large  county  of 
Hancock." 

In  1811,  on  the  reconstruction  of  the  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  Mr.  Crosby  was  selected  as  the  chief  justice  in  the 
third  Eastern  Circuit,  embracing  the  counties  of  Hancock, 
Washington,  and  Penobscot.  Nothing  could  have  been 
more  complimentary,  for  he  was  a  firm  and  well-known  oppo- 
nent of  the  administration  of  Gov.  Gerry,  by  whom  the 
appointment  was  made.  He  was  the  only  lawyer  on  the 
bench  of  this  circuit ;  his  associates  were  democratic  politi- 
cians,— MartinKinsley  of  Hampden,  and  James  Campbell  of 
Harrington  in  Washington  County.  Kinsley  was  that  year 
in  the  council,  and  Campbell  was  often  a  senator.  This 
office  Judge  Crosby  held  until  1822,  when  a  new  court  was 
constituted  by  the  State  under  its  separate  organization, 
consisting  of  but  three  judges  for  the  whole  territory ;  of 
which  Ezekiel  Whitman  was  appointed  chief  justice,  and 
Samuel  E.  Smith  of  Wiscasset,  and  David  Perham  of  Brewer, 
associates.  The  administration  being  in  the  hands  of  the 
democratic  party,  it  was  deemed  to  bo  a  State  necessity,  or 


386  WILLIAM   CROSBY. 

rather  a  party  necessity,  that  a  majority  of  that  court,  as  of 
the  Supreme  Court,  should  he  on  that  side  in  politics.  The 
Federalists  having  the  chief  justiceship  in  each  court,  the 
associates  were  consequently  taken  from  the  supporters  of 
the  administration.  Judge  Crosby's  qualities  for  the  distin- 
guished office  he  had  held  for  eleven  years  were  of  a  high 
order.  Calm,  patient,  learned,  and  discriminating,  he  car- 
ried to  the  investigation  of  causes  a  clear  judgment  and  a 
most  upright  mind.  The  writer  whom  wc  have  before 
quoted,  Mr.  Williamson,  thus  speaks  of  him  as  a  judge: 
"  On  his  elevation  to  the  bench,  he  more  than  equaled  pub- 
lic expectation  as  a  judge.  Quick  in  his  perceptions,  learned 
in  the  law,  nice  and  discriminating  in  his  judgment,  and 
placing  a  cause  in  the  clearest  light  before  a  jury,  he  was 
not  exceeded  by  any  judge  in  the  State."  Surely,  the  State 
ought  not  to  have  parted  with  the  services  *of  such  a  man 
and  such  a  judge.  But  the  law  of  party  is  inexorable ; 
rotation  has  its  victims  while  it  exalts  its  worshippers. 

Judge  Crosby  returned  to  the  bar  in  1822,  and  continued 
the  practice  of  his  profession  with  eminent  success  until 
1830,  when  he  carried  into  effect  a  resolution  which  he  had 
long  before  adopted,  to  retire  from  all  active  business  at  the 
age  of  sixty  years.  Having  reached  that  grand  climacteric, 
he  gave  up  his  office  and  all  professional  engagements  to  his 
accomplished  son,  William  G.  Crosby,  afterwards  Governor 
of  the  State,  and  retired  to  his  books,  his  philosophy,  and 
his  farm.  With  admirable  complacency  and  self-denial,  did 
this  philosophic  man,  in  full  health  and  the  maturity  of  his 
powers,  give  up  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  his  profes- 
sion and  the  blandishments  of  a  popular  life,  for  the  quiet 
pursuits  of  friendship  and  study,  which  were  congenial  to 
his  tastes.  He  was  a  good  scholar,  and  pursued  his  investi- 
gations into  almost  every  department  of  science.  His  ex- 
aminations into  some  of  the  branches  of  natural  philosophy 


WILLIAM    CROSBY.  387 

are  said  to  have  been  acute  and  valuable.  "  As  a  natural- 
ist, few  men  have  devoted  more  patient  study  to  the  mech- 
anism of  nature."  In  a  letter  from  his  son  to  me,  before 
referred  to,  he  says,  on  his  retirement,  "  The  remainder  of 
his  days  was  passed  in  the  society  of  his  book^fc —  he  was  a 
constant  reader  ;  in  the  preparation  of  manuscript  on  vari- 
ous topics  ;  and  in  agricultural  and  horticultural  pursuits, 
of  which  he  was  passionately  fond."  Intliis  manner  glided 
on  the  last  twenty-two  years  of  his  life.  lie  died  of  paral- 
ysis, March  31,  1852.  "  Until  two  years  before  his  death," 
says  his  son,  "  he  had  enjoyed  almost  uninterrupted,  vigo- 
rous health.  His  was  truly  a  '  green  old  age  ; '  and  no  man 
ever  enjoyed  life  more  than  he  did."  His  death  was  serene 
and  tranquil  as  his  life  had  been. 

"  The  stream  is  calmest  when  it  nears  tlie  tide, 
The  flowers  are  sweetest  at  the  even-tide, 
The  birds  most  musical  at  close  of  day, 
And  saints  divinest  when  they  pass  away." 

Soon  after  Mr.  Crosby  became  established  at  Belfast,  on 
October  12,  1802,  he  took  a  wife  from  his  native  town,  who 
continued,  during  his  long  life,  to  be  his  partner  and  com- 
panion, and  the  light  and  blessing  of  his  domestic  circle,  and 
who  survived  him  to  mourn  a  great  bereavement. 

Judge  Crosby  had  no  taste  for  the  excitements  of  politics. 
"  He  was  a  Federalist,  a  title  which,  to  the  very  last,"  says 
his  son,  "  he  claimed  to  be  proud.  In  his  religious  faith,  he 
was  a  Unitarian.  In  neither  politics  nor  religion  was  he  a  big- 
ot, but  in  both  liberal  to  an  extent  which  some  men  count  a 
fault."  His  party,  both  in  religion  and  politics,  was  gener- 
ally in  a  minority  ;  but  as  he  did  not  form  his  opinions  for 
the  profit  of  them  or  the  honor,  but  from  a  sincere  convic- 
tion, it  mattered  not  to  him  what  the  Avorld  thought  or  be- 
lieved :  nothing  did  or  could  move  him  from  his  conscien- 


388  WILLIAM   CROSBY  :  BARRETT   TOTTER. 

tious  convictions.  lie  was  once  elected  to  the  Senate  of 
Massachusetts,  in  1815.  In  1812,  he  was  chosen  an  elector 
of  President  and  Vice  President,  on  the  board  with  General 
Heath,  Harrison  Gray  Otis,  Nathan  Dane,  Lothrop  Lewis, 
Israel  Thorndike,  and  others.  Massachusetts  cast  her  twen- 
ty votes  for  DcWitt  Clinton,  in  opposition  to  James  Madison. 
I  know  of  no  other  political  oflfice  held  by  him. 

I  will  close  this  notice  with  a  few  extracts  from  Mr.  Al- 
den's  remarks,  as  he  was  his  neighbor  and  knew  him  well  : 
"  As  a  companion,  he  was  cordial  and  communicative  ;  as  a 
neighbor,  kind,  social,  and  accommodating  ;  and  as  a  citizen, 
just  and  humane.  As  a  benefactor.  Judge  Crosby  occupied 
a  high  position,  taking  the  lead  in  most  of  the  charitable, 
educational,  and  religious  enterprises  of  the  day.  The 
erection,  in  1818,  of  the  spacious  church  of  the  First  Con- 
gregational Society,  Unitarian,  in  Belfast,  and  the  installa- 
tion therein  of  the  Rev.  William  Frothingham,  were  objects 
in  which  he  felt  a  lively  interest  and  ^took  an  active  part. 
There,  in  the  sanctuary  of  his  own  erection,  and  with  the 
pastor  of  his  own  choice,  he  was  a  regular  and  constant 
worshipper  for  a  period  of  more  than  thirty  years." 

BARRETT     POTTER.      1801  —  1822. 

The  Potter  family  were  early  immigrants  to  this  country. 
John  and  William,  each  with  a  wife  and  two  children,  were 
of  the  company  of  the  eminent  and  Rev.  John  Davenport, 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  New  Haven  Colony.  They 
arrived  in  Boston  in  1G37  ;  and  the  next  year,  1638,  the 
company  proceeded  to  the  place  which  is  now  New  Haven, 
where  they  laid  the  foundation  of  that  thriving  community. 

William  Potter  was  the  ancestor  of  the  subject  of  this 
notice.  His  grandson,  Daniel,  was  born  in  North  Haven, 
in  1685 ;  his  son  Daniel,  born  June  9,  1718,  married  Mar- 


BARRETT   POTTER.  389 

tha  Joes,  March  11,  1741,  and  soon  after  moved  to  Plym- 
outh in  Connecticut :  he  had  five  sons  and  three  daughters  : 
all  the  sons,  viz.,  Jarcd,  Elani,  Isaiah,  Lyman,  and  Daniel, 
"were  educated  and  graduated  at  Yale  College,  between  the 
years  17G0  and  1780.  Isaiah,  the  father  of  Barrett  Potter, 
took  his  degree  in  1767,  in  company  with  the  honored  John 
Trumbull,  and  Governor  Treadwell  of  Connecticut,  and  the 
famous  theologian.  Dr.  Nathaniel  Emmons  of  Franklin, 
Massachusetts.  He  was  settled  in  the  ministry  at  Lebanon, 
New  Hampshire,  and  soon  after  married  Elizabeth,  a  daugh- 
ter of  Colonel  John  Barrett,  a  native  of  Boston ;  but  who 
moved  first  to  Middletown  in  Connecticut,  thence  to  Spring- 
field, Vermont. 

Tlieir  son,  Barrett,  was  born  March  8, 1777,  at  Lebanon. 
After  passing  through  the  usual  preliminary  studies,  he  was 
admitted  to  Dartmouth  College,  from  which  he  received  his 
degree  in  1796  :  Bishop  Chase  of  Illinois  was  one  of  his 
classmates.  Deciding  upon  the  profession  of  law  as  the 
future  business  of  his  life,  he  entered  the  office  of  Benjamin 
Gilbert,  a  leading  lawyer  in  Hanover,  New  Hampshire, 
where  he  remained  about  a  year,  when  he  went  to  his  uncle 
John  Barrett's,  in  Northfield,  Massachusetts,  where  he  com- 
pleted his  studies,  and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the 
autumn  of  1801.  He  immediately  came  to  North  Yar- 
mouth, in  this  State,  where  he  opened  his  office  in  Novem- 
ber of  that  year.  Here  he  remained  until  March,  1805, 
when  he  moved  to  Gorham,  built  him  an  office  (  still  used 
as  an  office) ,  and  earnestly  pursued  his  professional  duties. 

In  1806,  the  appointment  of  Judge  Parker  of  Portland 
to  the  bench  opened  the  way  for  some  enterprising  lawyer 
in  that  town.  The  late  Chief  Justice  Mellcn  determined  to 
improve  the  opportunity,  and  with  that  view  invited  Mr. 
Potter  to  take  his  office  at  Biddcford,  —  his  business  being 
then  the  most  profitable,  probal:»ly,  in  the  county  of  York, — 


390  BARRETT   POTTER, 

•worth  two  thousand  dollars  a  year.  But  Mr.  Potter  having, 
about  the  same  time,  an  ortcr  from  Mr.  Chase  of  Portland, 
who  was  overwhelmed  with  business,  and  exhausted  with 
its  care,  to  form  a  connection  Avitli  him  ;  he  preferred  this 
situation,  moved  to  Portland  in  June,  18015,  and  entered 
into  partnership  with  that  distinguished  gentleman.  But, 
unhappily  for  Mr.  Potter,  Mr.  Chase  survived  this  new 
arrangement  but  about  two  months,  having  died  suddenly 
in  August.  But  Mr.  Potter,  by  his  devotion  to  business, 
his  skill  and  intelligence,  retained  much  of  the  business, 
especially  the  collecting  part,  which  was  very  considerable, 
arising  from  clients  and  correspondents  in  Boston  and  other 
places,  who  had  reposed  the  utmost  confidence  in  Mr.  Chase. 
Mr.  Potter,  also,  had  the  settlement  of  the  estate  of  Mr. 
Chase,  and  the  guardianship  of  his  children :  trusts  which 
he  executed  with  great  exactness  and  integrity,  both  as 
regarded  their  education  and  their  estates. 

At  the  time  Mr.  Potter  moved  to  Portland,  the  only  law- 
yers in  the  town  were  Mr.  Chase,  William  Symmes,  both 
of  whom  died  within  a  few  months  ;  Isaac  Parker,  appointed 
judge,  and  soon  after  moved  to  Boston  ;  James  D.  Hopkins, 
Stephen  Longfellow,  Horatio  Southgate  ;  and  Woodbury 
Storer,  Jr.,  recently  admitted.  Law  business  was  large  and 
increasing,  the  trade  and  commerce  of  the  town  was  exten- 
sive, never  more  so  for  many  succeeding  years  than  at  that 
time.  The  tonnage  of  the  port  was  thirty-nine  thousand, 
and  the  amount  received  for  duties  at  the  custom  house  in 
1806,  was  three  hundred  and  forty-six  thousand  four  hund- 
red and  forty-four  dollars.  A  large  trade  was  carried  on 
with  the  West  Lidies  in  shipping  lumber  and  provisions,  and 
importing  sugar,  molasses,  and  rum.  Mr.  Potter's  office 
business  was  lucrative,  and  occupied  most  of  his  time ;  he 
was  not  much  employed  as  an  advocate,  but  whenever  his 
own  cases  needed  that  service,  he  did  not  shrink  from  per- 


BARRETT  POTTER.  891 

forming  it,  and  he  presented  them  in  a  sensible,  intelligent 
manner,  without  display  or  pretension.  He  had  the  entire 
confidence  of  his  clients,  and  discharged  his  duty  toward 
them  with  faithfulness  for  their  best  interest  and  to  their 
satisfaction,  so  that  he  could  justly  say,  on  retiring  from 
practice,  that  he  had  conscientiously  endeavored  to  do  his 
duty  to  his  clients,  to  the  courts,  and  to  the  community  in 
which  he  lived. 

In  1819,  Mr.  Potter  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Execu- 
tive Council  of  Massachusetts,  and  in  1820,  to  the  Senate 
of  Maine  from  Cumberland  County.  That  being  the  first 
Legislature  which  assembled  in  the  new  State,  much  im- 
portant and  responsible  duty  devolved  upon  it.  The  judges 
of  the  Supreme  Court  had  been  appointed  commissioners  to 
prepare  a  digest  of  the  statute  laws  in  force  in  the  State  : 
their  report  was  made  to  the  January  session,  and  Mr.  Pot- 
ter, with  Timothy  Boutelle  and  Daniel  Rose,  were  appointed 
a  committee  on  behalf  of  the  Senate  to  revise  the  report, 
and  submit  such  alterations  and  suggestions  in  regard  to  the 
laws  as  the  altered  circumstances  of  our  State  seemed  to  re- 
quire. This  laborious  task  was  promptly  and  ably  attended 
to  ;  and  the  laws  published  in  1821,  under  the  superintend- 
ence of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme  Court,  were  the  result  of 
the  action  of  the  two  committees.  Judge  Potter  is  now  the 
only  survivor  of  the  Senate  of  that  year,  and  Chief  Justice 
Weston  only  remains,  though  much  younger  than  Judge 
Potter,  of  the  board  of  jurisprudence.  The  Legislature 
chosen  in  1820,  by  a  provision  in  the  Constitution,  held  over 
to  January,  1822  :  in  that  year  he  was  witlidrawn  from  polit- 
ical life  by  his  appointment  as  Judge  of  Probate,  successor 
to  Judge  Parris,  who  had  been  chosen  Governor  of  the  State 
in  place  of  Governor  King.  This  office  Judge  Potter  held 
a  quarter  of  a  century,  and  retired  from  it  in  1847,  at  the 
age  of  seventy,  with  intellect  unclouded,  his  natural  force 


392  BARRETT   POTTER:    ERASTUS   FOOTE. 

scarcely  abated,  and  with  a  just  consciousness  that  he  had 
administered  his  office  with  strict  integrity,  with  unim- 
peached  impartiality,  and  for  the  rights  of  the  numerous 
classes  of  persons  among  whom  the  Judge  of  Probate  stands 
a  wise  arbiter  and  a  judicious  friend,  having  a  large  discre- 
tionary power  in  relation  to  the  widow  and  orphan,  requir- 
ing that  a  tender  compassion  should  be  regulated  and  con- 
trolled by  a  sound  judgment.  Judge  Potter  brought  to  this 
office  the  admirable  qualities  which  enabled  him  to  discharge 
its  duties  with  justice  and  equity. 

In  July,  1809,  Judge  Potter  married  Ann  Titcomb,  a 
daughter  of  the  Hon.  Woodbury  Storer  of  Portland,  by  his 
first  wife,  who  was  a  daughter  of  Benjamin  Titcomb,  and 
grand-daughter  of  Moses  Pearson,  honored  citizens  of  Port- 
land through  a  period  of  seventy  years.  By  her  he  had 
three  daughters, — Eliza,  now  living  with  her  father  unmar- 
ried ;  Mary,  the  first  wife  of  Professor  Henry  W.  Longfel- 
low ;  the  third,  Ann,  the  wife  of  Peter. Thacher^of  Rockland, 
a  respected  member  of  the  bar  of  Knox  County.  Mrs.  Pot- 
ter was  a  lovely  woman,  but  of  frail  and  delicate  organiza- 
tion :  she  died  at  the  age  of  forty  years  in  1821. 

ERASTUS     FOOTE.      1801  —  185  6. 

Erastus  Foote  was  one  of  the  few  lawyers  who  came  to 
this  State  from  Connecticut :  he  was  born  in  Waterbury,  in 
that  State,  October,  1777.  That  town  was  a  place  of  some 
importance  for  its  manufacturing  and  agricultural  resources  : 
it  was  the  birth  place  of  the  celebrated  Samuel  Hopkins, 
D.  D.,  the  founder  of  the  sect  which  took  his  name  sixty 
years  ago,  the  Tlopkinsians.  Mr.  Foote  was  not  educated 
at  college,  but  after  receiving  ample  advantages  of  prelim- 
inary study,  he  entered  the  office  of  Judge  Samuel  Hinkley 
at  Northampton,  at  the  age  of  nineteen,  and  having  diligent- 


EBASTUS   FOOTE.  393 

ly  pursued  his  studies  under  the  instruction  of  this  distin 
guished  lawyer  four  years,  he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
Hampshire  County,  in  1800,  and  commenced  practice  in 
Nortliampton. 

After  a  short  experience  at  that  place,  he  removed  to 
Caraden  in  Maine  in  1801,  where  he  was  the  successor  of 
John  Hathaway,  wlio  died  in  1799,  and  was  the  second  law- 
yer in  the  town.  Its  population  did  not  then  exceed  one 
thousand,  but  his  business  was  drawn  from  a  much  larger 
space  of  country,  and  from  other  persons  than  those  who 
lived  in  that  narrow  circle.  Mr.  Poote  was  an  enterprising 
and  aspiring  man,  of  considerable  ability,  and  a  power  of 
displaying  what  he  had  to  the  best  advantage.  He  was  a 
handsome  man,  of  florid  countenance,  a  cheerful  expres- 
sion, tall,  of  a  fine  figure,  and  with  a  self-reliance  amply 
sufficient  to  set  off  these  qualities.  His  manner  was  some- 
what pompous,  and  his  arguments  verbose,  but  he  had  no 
difficulty  in  saying  what  he  wanted  to  say,  and  making 
himself  understood.  He  was  kind  and  genial  in  his  dispo- 
sition, and  of  a  sanguine  temperament :  he  made  himself 
agreeable  to  the  younger  members  of  the  bar.  He  was  quite 
successful  in  his  practice.  In  1811,  he  succeeded  Benjamin 
Ames  as  county  attorney,  —  an  office  which  enlarged  his 
practice  and  increased  his  experience.  He  held  this  office 
to  the  time  of  separation,  and  was  prepared  by  it  for  the 
duties  of  the  higlier  criminal  office  to  which  he  succeeded. 
In  1812,  he  was  elected  a  senator  to  the  Legislature  of  Mas- 
sachusetts from  Lincoln  County  on  the  Federal  ticket;  but 
the  war  breaking  out  with  England  while  he  held  this  office, 
he  gave  his  adhesion  to  tlic  National  administration,  and 
sustained  the  war  measures  of  Mr.  Madison.  He  was 
appointed  the  same  year  to  the  command  of  the  fifth 
regiment  of  the  second  brigade,  clevcntli  division  of  the 
niilitia  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  called  into  service  in  1814, 

20 


394  ERASTUS   FOOTE. 

"when  the  British  threatened  the  whole  coast,  and  effected  a 
landing  at  Castine  and  some  other  places.  His  exploits  as 
a  military  man  did  not  add  to  his  reputation,  and  were  made 
the  theme  of  much  raillery  by  the  party  which  he  had  aban- 
doned, whenever  his  name  was  brought  forward  ibr  political 
office.  He  was  an  unsuccessful  candidate  of  the  Democratic 
party  for  Congress  at  that  time. 

After  the  war  was  ended,  Mr.  Foote,  in  1815,  moved  to 
Wiscasset,  the  shire  town  of  the  county  where  he  had  mar- 
ried his  wife.     The  question  of  separation  from  Massachu- 
setts was  now  agitated,  and  Mr.  Foote  took   sides  Avith  its 
advocates.     He  was  elected  to  the  House  of   Representa- 
tives of  Massachusetts  in  1819,  and  supported  vigorously 
the  measures  proposed  to  accomplish  that  favorite  object. 
He  was  elected  to  the  first  Senate  which  convened  in  Maine, 
in  1820,  and  before   the  close  of  his  term,  received  the 
appointment  of  attorney  general  of  the  State.     Gov.  King, 
who  made  the  appointment,  carefully  canvassed  the  qualifi- 
cations of  various  candidates,  and  remarked  that  he  knew 
no  man  better  qualified  for  the  office  than  Col.  Foote.     He 
had  large  experience  as  a  criminal  lawyer,  as  well  as  in 
other  branches  of  practice,  and  other  departments  of   busi- 
ness.    He  entered,  therefore,  upon  its  duties  with  great 
advantages,  and  is  entitled  to  the  commendation  of  having 
faithfully,  ably,  and  promptly  filled  all   tlie  expectations  of 
his  friends  in  its  discharge.     The  late  William  D.  William- 
son, the  historian  of  Maine,  in  speaking  on  this  subject,  said, 
"  Col.  Foote  held  tlie  office  about  fourteen  years,  a  very  cor- 
rect, able  and  faithful  prosecuting  officer.     It  is  said  that  he 
never  lost  but  a  single  indictment  for  defect  in  form."     Mr. 
Orr,  a  very  competent  judge  in  such  matters,  is  reported  to 
have  said,  "  It  is  almost  impossible  to  wrest  a  criminal  out 
of  the  hands  of  Brother  Foote."      Wliile  in  office,  he  made 
valuable  suggestions  to  tlic  government,   \vhi(.'b   h'd   to  im- 


ERASTUS   FOOTE.  395 

provements  in  the  criminal  law.  Mr.  Foote  was  succeeded, 
in  1832,  by  Jonathan  P.  Rogers  of  Bangor,  and  returned  to 
the  bar,  where  he  continued  with  almost  youthful  ardor  to 
pursue  the  duties  of  his  profession.  He  died  July  4,  1856, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-nine,  and  was  the  oldest  practicing  law- 
yer at  that  time  in  the  State, 

Mr.  Foote  was  a  public-spirited  citizen  ;  ready  at  all  times 
to  promote  good  objects  ;  he  was  kind  and  benevolent ; 
prompt  with  his  counsel  and  his  purse  for  the  relief  of  the 
distressed,  and  exemplary  in  all  the  relations  of  life.  As 
early  as  1820,  he  was  elected  a  trustee  of  Bowdoin  College, 
the  duties  of  which  he  discharged  for  twenty-four  years :  in 
1821,  the  college  conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree 
of  Master  of  Arts.  lie  was  a  friend  of  education,  and  was 
himself  a  cultivated  man. 

Mr.  Foote  married  two  daughters  of  Moses  Carlton,  an 
honored  citizen  of  Wiscasset,  who  survived  his  son-in-law, 
and  died  the  same  year,  aged  ninety-one.  By  his  second 
wife,  he  had  one  son,  bearing  his  name  and  adopting  his  pro- 
fession, a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  the  class  of  18-13,  and 
several  daughters. 


CHAPTER    XVII. 


EBENEZER   THATCHER  —  JOSEPH     DANE  —  HORATIO    SOUTHGATE 
—  WILLIAM    JONES  —  SAMUEL  A.  BRADLEY  —  JOHN   WIL- 
SON—  GEORGE   HERBERT  —  JUDAH   MCLELLAN  — 
NATHAN     CUTLER  —  JOSEPH     BARTLETT. 


EBENEZER     THATCHER.      1802  —  1841. 

Ebenezer  Tliatclier,  a  younger  brother  of  Samuel  Thatcher, 
of  whom  we  have,  iu  previous  pages,  given  an  account  which 
embraced  the  origin  and  descent  of  the  family,  was  born  in 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  October  9,  1778.  He  was  edu- 
cated at  Harvard  College,  under  the  shadow  of  whose  ven- 
erable halls  he  was  born,  and  graduated  in  the  class  of  1798, 
which  contained  such  illustrious  names  as  Channing,  Long- 
fellow, Story,  Tuckerman,  Willard,  and  maintained  such 
rank  as  to  entitle  him  to  membcrsliip  of  the  Phi-Beta-Kappa 
Society.  Professor  Willard,  in  his  interesting  "  Memoirs  of 
Youth  and  Manhood,"  in  describing  the  members  of  his 
class,  says,  "  He  was  a  young  man  of  more  than  conunon 
talents  and  literary  ambition,  but  somewhat  self-distrustful^ 
He  acquitted  himself  well,  however,  in  the  performance  of 
the  tasks  prescribed  by  the  professors  and  tutors,  and  main- 


EBENEZER  THATCHER:  COLLEGE  CUSTOMS.      397 

tained  a  respectable  relative  rank  in  his  class."  He  was 
something  of  an  athlete  in  college  :  at  that  day  it  was  the 
custom  for  the  sophomore  class,  on  the  first  or  second  week 
after  the  entrance  of  the  freshman  class,  to  give  them  a 
challenge  to  a  wrestling  match,  and  tiuis  introduce  them  to 
the  fellowship  of  this  peculiar  community.  On  the  entrance 
of  the  class  which  graduated  in  1800,  containing  the  names 
afterwards  renowned,  of  Allston,  Buckminster,  Boutelle, 
Lowell,  Chief  Justice  Shaw  ;  the  sophomores,  embracing 
Professor  Cleaveland,  Willard  Hall,  General  Sumner,  John 
Wilson  of  Belfast,  <fec.,  extended  the  customary  challenge, 
which  was,  of  course,  accepted.  The  form  was  for  all  the 
classes  to  be  present  on  "  the  play  ground  ; "  the  seniors  and 
juniors  forming  a  circle,  in  the  center  of  which,  the  combat- 
ants met  for  the  Olympic  game.  The  victory  was  generally 
in  favor  of  the  older  class,  but  on  this  occasion,  1796,  the 
freshmen  routed  the  sopliomores  utterly:  "Weed,  an  agile, 
muscular  young  man  of  the  freshman  class,  brought  up  on 
a  farm  in  the  county  of  Essex,  stood  triumphant,  having 
thrown  out  every  competitor.  When  such  an  event  hap- 
pened, it  was  usual  for  the  junior  class  to  enter  the  list  and 
contest  the  victory.  On  this  occasion  the  juniors  put  forth,  as 
their  champion,  Ebenezer  Thatcher,  and  tlie  contest  now 
rose  to  a  high  pitch  of  excitement.  After  a  severe  struggle, 
Weed,  exhausted  by  his  previous  unparalleled  efforts,  was 
finally  thrown  by  Thatcher,  and  to  the  juniors  was  awarded 
the  victory.  But  so  animated  had  been  the  contest,  and  so 
manfully  did  the  freshmen  sustain  themselves,  that  the  sen- 
iors invited  them  to  a  handsome  supper  as  a  token  of  ap- 
proval  for  their  manly  bearing.  At  this  jovial  feast,  one  of 
the  "  Nodes  ambrosiancc,^'  there  were  sixteen  toasts  drank, 
among  wliich  were  the  following,  "  The  students  of  Har- 
vard University,  —  May  their  social  disposition  strew  flowers 


398  EBENEZER  THATCHER. 

of  pleasure  in  the  paths  of  science.  The  Freshman  Class, — 
May  its  late  victories  animate  it  to  encounter  the  sons  of 
science.  The  Members  of  Harvard,  —  Never  may  the  scor- 
pion sting  of  envy  and  hatred  rankle  in  their  breasts." 
Weed  was  afterwards,  for  fifty  years,  a  beloved  physician  in 
Portland. 

After  pursuing  his  regular  course  of  legal  studies,  Mr. 
Thatcher  commenced  practice  in  Boston  in  1801.  But  the 
next  year,  probably  attracted  by  the  success  of  his  brother 
Samuel,  at  Warren,  he  came  to  Maine,  and  opened  an  office 
in  Newcastle,  and  was  the  first  lawyer  who  attempted  prac- 
tice in  that  place.  At  that  time,  it  contained  about  one 
thousand  inhabitants.  In  three  or  four  years  after  this,  he 
married  Lucy  Flukcr,  a  daughter  of  General  Knox  of  Thom- 
aston,  and  soon  after  moved  to  that  town.  His  classmate, 
and  a  friend  of  his  early  days.  Professor  Willard,  says,  in  his 
•'  Memories,"  "  The  last  time  and  place  at  which  I  saw  him 
was  in  the  year  180T  in  Thomaston,  at  the  house  of  Mrs. 
Knox,  the  widow  of  General  Henry  Knox,  to  whose  daugh- 
ter Thatcher  had  been  recently  married.  As  I  was  looking 
from  her  magnificent  dwelling-house  at  the  wide  domain 
around  it,  and  expressing  my  pleasure  at  the  view,  Mrs. 
Knox  uttered  a  few  words  of  just  eulogy  upon  her  deceased 
husband,  who  had  died  within  a  year  preceding,  —  on  his 
enlarged  soul,  his  generous  heart,  his  gentleness  of  demeanor, 
and  his  expansive  benevolence." 

Mr.  Thatcher  represented  Thomaston  in  the  General 
Court  in  1814,  being  then  one  of  the  associate  justices  of 
the  Circuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  second  Eastern 
Circuit,  to  which  he  was  appointed  in  1812  :  the  court  con- 
sisted of  Nathan  Weston,  Jr.,  cliief  justice,  Benjamin  Ames 
and  himself,  associates.  Soon  after  his  marriage,  he  resided 
a  few  years  in  Warren,  and  was  there  chosen  a  captain  of 


EBENEZEIl  THATCHER.  399 

artillery,   from  which  he  rose,  through  different  grades,  to 
the  rank  of  brigadier  general. 

Mr.  Thatcher,  although  of  a  cultivated  mind  and  well- 
read  as  a  lawyer,  was  not  successful  as  an  advocate.  His 
natural  diffidence,  or  "  self-distrust,"  as  his  classmate  Wil- 
lard  describes  it,  was  a  clog  which  embarrassed  him,  as  it 
has  many  a  brilliant  scholar  and  lawyer  before  and  since  his 
day.  Few  men  come  to  the  bar,  however  well  endowed  in 
legal  principles,  who  have  the  happy  faculty  of  commanding 
their  thoughts  and  the  full  sway  of  their  powers,  when  the 
eyes  of  the  court,  the  jury,  the  bar,  and  numerous  spectators 
are  all  leveled  at  the  only  person  "  who  has  the  floor."  We 
have  alluded  to  this  embarrassment  in  the  cases  of  Salmon 
Chase  and  Chief  Justice  Parker,  both  eminent  as  lawyers. 

Mr.  Thatcher  held  the  office  of  judge  during  the  period 
that  Maine  continued  united  with  Massachusetts.  By  the 
reorganization  of  the  courts  under  the  new  government,  the 
circuit  system  was  abolished,  and  a  court  for  the  State  estab- 
lished, consisting  of  a  chief  justice  and  two  associates,  and 
new  judges  were  appointed.  Judge  Thatcher  returned  to 
the  practice,  in  which  he  continued,  at  Thomaston,  Mercer, 
and  Bingham,  until  his  death,  June  9,  1841,  at  the  age  of 
sixty-three.  His  widow  died  October  12, 1854,  aged  seventy- 
seven.  They  had  a  large  family.  Tlie  various  places  to 
which  Judge  Tiiatcher  moved,  viz.,  Newcastle,  Thomas- 
ton,  Warren,  back  to  Thomaston  again,  Mercer,  and  Bing- 
ham, indicate  a  degree  of  instability  which  was  unfavorable 
to  progress  or  accumulation.  "  A  rolling  stone  gathers  no 
moss"  is  a  proverb  applicable  to  him :  for  some  reason  or 
other  the  fair  prospects  of  his  early  life  were  not  answered 
by  the  results  of  his  later  years.  He  died  in  a  remote  place, 
and  poor. 


400  JOSEPH  DANE. 

JOSEPH     DANE.      1802  —  1858, 

Joseph  Dane,  who  for  fifty  years  was  a  distinguished 
member  of  the  York  County  bar,  and  a  prominent  eitizeu 
of  Maine,  was  descended  from  John  Dane,  who  came  from 
Essex  County,  England,  to  Roxbury,  Massachusetts,  in  1636, 
bringing  two  daughters  and  a  son,  John,  born  at  Colchester 
in  England,  in  161-3.  John,  the  son,  settled  in  Ipswich, 
Massachusetts,  and  was  the  direct  ancestor  of  the  eminent 
lawyer  and  statesman,  Nathan  Dane  of  Beverly,  and  of  his 
nephew  Joseph,  the  subject  of  the  present  notice.  His  par- 
ents were  John  and  Jemima  (^Fellows)  Dane  of  Beverly, 
where  he  was  born  October  25,  1778.  His  parents  were 
natives  of  Ipswich,  and  died,  the  father  in  1829,  in  his 
eightieth  year  ;  the  mother  in  1827,  aged  seventy-six. 

Mr.  Dane  was  fitted  for  college  at  the  academy  in  Ando- 
ver,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1799,  with  the 
second  honors  of  his  class.  His  class  contained  such  men 
as  Parker  Cleaveland,  Willard  Hall,  Samuel  D.  Parker  of 
Boston,  William  H.  Sumner,  John  Wilson  of  Belfast,  and 
Dr.  Rufus  Wyman.  Mr.  Dane  was  one  of  the  best  scholars 
in  his  class.  In  the  commencement  exercises  he  had  an 
oration  on  "  Speculation."  Cleaveland  had  an  English  dis- 
sertation on  "  Modern  Philosophy,  or  Universal  Patriotism." 
On  leaving  college,  he  entered  the  office  of  his  uncle,  the 
distinguished  Nathan  Dane  of  Beverly,  as  a  student  at  law, 
and  was  admitted  to  practice  in  Essex  County,  in  June, 
1802.  The  large  practice  and  great  learning  of  his  uncle, 
and  the  association  with  the  eminent  men  then  coming  upon 
the  stage,  Prcscott,  Jackson,  Putnam,  Story,  all  at  the  Essex 
Bar,  could  not  but  have  animated  the  aspiring  student  with 
high  and  honoral>le  motives  of  action,  and  an  ardent  desire 
to  become  distinguished  in  his  profession. 
Immediately  after  his  admission,  he  opened  an  office  at 


JOSEPH    DANE.  401 

Kennebunk,  then  a  part  of  Wells,  and  soon  became  prom- 
inent as  a  sound  lawyer,  an  able  advocate,  and  an  upright 
man.  There  were  then  in  practice  in  that  county,  Prentiss 
Mellen,  Cyrus  King,  Dudley  Hubbard,  Benjamin  Greene, 
Joseph  Thomas,  John  Holmes,  and  George  W.  Wallingford, 
all  men  of  note  at  the  bar  and  in  public  service,  and  who 
preceded  him  in  the  crowded  funereal  procession  to  the 
tomb.  He  continued  in  practice  until  1837,  having  main- 
tained for  more  than  a  third  of  a  century,  a  character  of 
spotless  integrity,  and  of  great  honor  and  ability  in  his 
profession  ;  and  during  the  latter  portion  of  the  time,  was  a 
leader  at  the  bar  of  York  County. 

Although  his  modesty  and  reserve  caused  him  to  shrink 
from  public  employments,  he  was  induced,  by  the  earnest 
application  of  his  fellow  citizens,  occasionally  to  take  office. 
In  1816,  he  was  a  member  of  the  abortive  convention  at 
Brunswick,  on  the  subject  of  the  separation  of  Maine  from 
Massachusetts  ;  and  in  1819,  of  the  convention  which  formed 
the  constitution  of  the  8tate,  and  was  one  of  the  very  able 
committee  appointed  to  draft  that  instrument.  In  1818,  he 
was  chosen  one  of  the  two  members  of  the  Executive  Coun- 
cil of  Massachusetts,  then  allowed  to  Maine,  but  he  declined 
accepting  the  office.  In  1820,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of 
the  Sixteenth  Congress,  for  the  unexpired  term  of  Mr. 
Holmes,  who  had  been  raised  to  the  Senate  ;  he  was  re- 
elected to  the  Seventeenth  Congress,  and  having  served  out 
his  term,  he  declined  being  again  a  candidate.  He  served 
his  town  as  a  Representative  in  the  Legislature  of  the  State, 
in  the  years  1821,  1825,  1832,  1833,  1839,  and  1810,  and 
the  county  in  the  Senate,  in  1829.  At  the  close  of  the  ses- 
sion of  1840,  he  retired  from  public  life  altogether,  having 
declined  the  appointment  of  commissioner  tp  revise  the  pub- 
lic statutes,  and  the  office  of  executive  councillor,  both  of 
which  were  honorably  tendered  to  him.     He  preferred  the 


402  JOSEPH   DANE. 

enjoyments  of  private  life,  and  the  repose  of  his  own  excel- 
lent family,  to  the  bustle  and  excitement  of  political  life. 
He  was  thoroughly  and  essentially  conservative  in  all  his 
views,  and  he  had  a  great  abhorrence  of  a  demagogue  and 
an  intriguing  politician,  in  whatever  guise  they  might  appear. 
He  was  a  valued  member  of  the  old  Federal  pjjrty  while  it 
existed,  but  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  he  took  but  little 
interest  in  politics.  In  every  public  office,  and  in  every  act 
of  private  life,  his  conduct  was  characterized  by  a  hrm, 
undeviating  sense  of  right,  and  a  conscientious  determina- 
tion neither  to  do  nor  to  submit  to  what  was  unjust  or 
wrong.  No  man  or  statesman's  record  is  clearer  than  that 
of  Mr.  Dane,  among  all  our  public  men  or  fellow  citizens, 
through  the  more  than  half  a  century  ^that  he  dwelt  in  our 
community. 

In  October,  1808,  he  married  Mary,  a  daughter  of  the 
Hon.  Jonas  Clark  of  Kennebunk.  Mr.  Clark  was  a  son  of 
the  Rev.  Jonas  Clark  of  Lexington,  Massachusetts  ;  and  his 
wife  was  Sarah,  a  daughter  of  Dr.  Edward  Watts,  a  prom- 
inent physician  of  Portland  before  the  Revolution,  and  a 
son  of  Judge  Samuel  Watts  of  Boston.  Mrs.  Dane  is  a 
lady  of  great  excellence  of  character,  and  still  survives. 
They  had  two  sons  and  one  daughter.  His  eldest  son, 
Joseph,  succeeded  to  his  business,  and  in  1850,  served  as 
one  of  the  Bank  Commissioners.  His  second  son,  Nathan, 
is  a  farmer  in  xVlfrcd.  He  represented  his  county  in  the 
Senate  of  the  State  in  the  years  1857  and  1858,  and  is  now 
Treasurer  of  the  State.  From  a  stock  so  sound  and  health- 
ful, we  should  be  justified  in  expecting  no  other  than  excel- 
lent fruit. 

He  bore  his  last  sickness,  which  was  attended  with  con- 
siderable suffering,  with  cheerfulness  and  patience  ;  and  sur- 
rendered his  parting  breath  with  Christian  resignation  and 
trust.     He  died  at  Kennebunk,  where  the  preceding  fifty- 


JOSEPH   DANE:    HORATIO   SOUTHGATE.  403 

six  years  of  his  life  had  been  passed,  May  1,  1858,  aged 
seventy-nine.  The  death  of  siicli  a  man,  altliough  full  of 
years,  was  felt  as  a  public  loss ;  and  the  community  in 
■whicli  he  lived,  mourned  with  unfeigned  sorrow  the  depart- 
ure of  a  wise  counsellor,  a  true  friend,  and  an  honest  man. 
His  death  preceded  that  of  his  classmate.  Prof.  Cleaveland, 
just  five  months  and  a  half;  and  but  five  from  a  class  of 
forty-four  now  remain  alive.  Ebenezer  Clapp  and  the  Rev. 
William  Frothingham,  beside  those  before  mentioned,  John 
Wilson  and  Prof.  Cleaveland,  adopted  our  State,  at  an  early 
period  of  their  lives,  as  their  place  of  residence  ;  and  all  died 
among  us,  after  enriching  our  community  Avith  the  fruits  of 
their  wise  and  varied  experience.  The  law,  theology,  and 
science  are  their  debtors  for  large  contributions  made  by 
them,  in  tlie  early  period  of  our  commonwealth,  to  the 
departments  they  ably  represented.  In  our  zeal  for  the 
new,  and  the  present,  and  the  pressing,  let  us  not  forget 
those  wise  pioneers  and  vigorous  men  who  strengthened 
the  foundations  of  our  young  society,  and  defended  its  bat- 
tlements through  the  struggles  of  our  earlier  and  weaker 
day. 

HORATIO     SOUTHGATE.       1802  — 

Horatio  Southgate  was  admitted  to  the  Cumberland  Bar 
at  the  October  term  of  the  Common  Pleas,  in  1802,  held  at 
New  Gloucester.  By  the  influence  of  William  Widgery, 
who  resided  in  New  (jloucester,  and  was  a  leading  justice 
of  the  peace,  an  active  politician,  and  one  of  the  irregular 
practitioners  at  the  bar,  a  term  of  the  Common  Pleas  was 
established  at  New  Gloucester  in  1791.  It  continued  there 
\intil  1805,  when  it  was  removed  to  Portland ;  and  the  three 
terms  were  ever  after,  annually,  held  at  the  latter  place, 
until  that  court  was  abolished.     Davis,  Symmes,  Chase, 


404  HORATIO    SOUTHGATE. 

Hopkins,  Greenwood,  and  Longfellow  from  Portland ;  Whit- 
man of  New  Gloucester ;  Little  of  Gorham ;  Potter  of 
North  Yarmouth  ;  and  Morse  of  Freeport,  attended  the 
courts  there,  and  were  the  only  lawyers  in  the  county  at 
that  time. 

Mr.  Southgate  was  the  son  of  Dr.  Rohert  Southgate  of 
Scarboro',  a  practicing  physician  in  tiiat  town,  and  one  of 
the  judges  of  the  Common  Pleas.  He  came  from  Leicester, 
Massachusetts,  in  1771,  with  all  his  worldly  gear  in  a  pair 
of  saddle-bags,  on  the  horse  which  bore  their  possessor 
through  the  forests  of  Maine  to  that  place.  This  worthy 
man,  the  father  of  several  beautiful  and  accomplished 
daughters,  died  in  1833,  at  the  age  of  ninety-two  years. 
His  wife,  the  mother  of  Horatio  and  his  other  children,  was 
Mary,  the  daughter  of  Richard  King  of  Scarboro',  and  sister 
of  the  renowned  statesman,  Rufus  King. 

Her  son,  of  whom  we  are  speaking,  was  born  in  Scarboro', 
in  August,  1781.  At  the  age  of  thirteen  years,  in  1794,  he 
was  placed  at  Exeter  Academy,  where  he  had  for  his  asso- 
ciates, Henry  Wadsworth,  who  gallantly  perished  before 
Tripoli,  in  1803  ;  Leverett  Saltonstall  of  Salem,  Massachu- 
setts ;  the  accomplished  Joseph  S,  Buckminster,  afterwards 
the  pastor  of  Brattle  Street  Church,  in  Boston  ;  Augustine 
and  Bushrod  Washington  from  Virginia ;  and  Daniel 
Webster. 

After  the  preparatory  course  at  this  celebrated  institution , 
he  entered  the  office  of  Salmon  Chase  in  Portland,  where 
he  pursued  the  regular  term  of  study  prescribed  by  the 
rules,  and  was  duly  admitted  to  the  honors  and  duties  of 
the  profession.  He  opened  an  office  in  Portland,  but  spent 
a  portion  of  his  time  in  Scarboro'  assisting  his  father,  who, 
in  addition  to  the  routine  of  his  busy  profession  as  a  physi- 
cian and  his  duties  as  judge,  owned  a  very  extensive  farm  ; 
to  this,  and  to  all  the  neighboring  lands  and  marsh  where  it 


HORATIO   SOUTHGATE.  405 

was  situated,  he  was  giving  additional  value  by  the  construc- 
tion of  a  turnpike  road  over  the  very  extensive  marsh,  form- 
ing the  most  direct  and  convenient  route  for  the  travel  from 
Portland  to  Boston.  This  excellent  road,  long  used  for  com- 
mon travel,  is  now  the  bed  of  the  railroad  on  the  same  route. 

Mr.  Southgate  had  his  office  in  the  building  erected  by 
the  Portland  Bank,  now  owned  and  occupied  by  the  Canal 
Bank.  His  office,  for  many  years,  was  on  one  side  of  the 
entrance  to  the  banking-room,  and  Judge  Whitman's  on  the 
other  ;  and  here  he  continued  to  practice  until  1815,  when, 
at  the  instance  of  Judge  Whitman,  a  member  of  the  Coun- 
cil, he  received  from  Governor  Strong  the  appointment  of 
Register  of  Probate  for  the  county  of  Cumberland.  In  this 
office  he  was  retained  twenty-one  years,  during  the  closing 
period  of  Judge  Freeman's  administration  as  judge,  the 
whole  of  Judge  Parris's,  and  a  large  part  of  that  of  Judge 
Potter.  This  fact  alone  is  a  sufficient  testimonial  to  his  ac- 
curacy and  fidelity,  to  which  I  can  properly  add,  tliat  no 
man  ever  discharged  the  duties  of  the  station  with  more 
promptness,  integrity,  and  honesty  than  did  this  incumbent. 
The  records  during  that  period  are  a  model  for  neatness  and 
correctness. 

In  1830,  Mr.  Southgate  prepared  "  The  Probate  Manual, 
containing  Forms  adapted  to  the  Practice  of  Probate  Courts 
in  the  State  of  Maine,"  also  the  laws  relating  to  the  sub- 
ject. Tiiis  compilation  was  much  needed,  was  well  prepared, 
and  is  still  in  constant  use. 

Mr.  Southgate,  after  the  death  of  his  father  and  mother, 
took  possession  of  the  homestead  farm  in  Scarboro',  where 
he  continues  to  reside,  enjoying  a  serene  and  vigorous  old 
age. 

By  his  three  wives,  he  has  had  a  large  family  of  children, 
sixteen  sons  and  daughters,  but  of  wliom  only  five  are  lining. 
Among  the  sons,  five  were  educated  at  Bowdoin  College,  and 


406  HORATIO    SOUTHGATE  :    WILLIAM    JONES. 

all  became  clergymen  ;  viz.,  Robert,  of  the  class  of  182G,  is 
minister  at  Ipswich,  Massachusetts  ;  Horatio,  late  Bishop  of 
Constantinople,  is  settled  in  New  York  ;  Frederick  and  John 
B.  are  dead;  and  William  S.,  of  the  Episcopal  Church,  is 
settled  at  Litchfield  in  Connecticut.  His  second  wife  was  a 
daughter  of  Noah  Webster,  the  renowned  lexicographer  ; 
his  first,  a  daughter  of  Major  Hugh  McLellan  of  Portland  ; 
his  third,  Miss  Neal  of  Portland. 

He  made  to  me,  recently,  the  following  statement :  "  There 
is  one  fact  respecting  the  Cumberland  Bar,  of  which,  I  be- 
lieve, it  would  be  difficult  to  find  a  parallel  instance  in  any 
other  bar.  It  is  this :  in  1861,  there  were  four  of  its  mem- 
bers living,  the  youngest  of  whom  was  past  eighty  years 
of  age."  These  were  Judges  Whitman,  Emery,  Potter,  and 
himself.  Emery  is  since  dead.  I  can  add  to  this  singular 
fact  the  names  of  Samuel  Thatcher,  now  living  at  Brewer, 
Maine,  at  the  age  of  eighty-six  ;  and  Chief  Justice  Weston, 
now  eighty,  living  at  Augusta, — both  of  whom  began  practice 
in  New  Gloucester,  and  were  members  of  the  Cumberland 
Bar  :  also  Judge  Ware,  now  eighty,  whom  entered  the  'Cum 
berland  Bar  in  1817  ;  and  General  Fessenden,  aged  seventy- 
eight,  whose  membership  runs  from  1809.  So  that  there 
now  survive  seven  persons  wlio  were  members  of  the  Cum- 
berland Bar,  the  youngest  of  whom  is  seventy-eight ;  three, 
eighty-six  ;  one,  eighty-one  ;  and  two,  eighty  years  old. 

W  J  L  L  I  A  IM     JONES.      1801  —  1813. 

William  Jones  was  the  first  lawyer  who  settled  in  Nor- 
ridgewock,  if  we  except  the  itinerant  and  shattered  remains 
of  the  once  brilliant  man,  Timothy  Langdon,  who  made  that 
town  his  occasional  residence  for  about  two  years,  from  1795 
to  1797.  Langdon  had  practiced  at  Pownalboro',  as  we 
have   before   mentioned,  prior  to   iha   Revolution,   during 


WILLIAM    JONES.  407 

wliich  he  acted  as  judge  of  the  Admiralty  Court  for  Massa- 
chusetts ;  and  who,  afterwards,  by  liis  dissipated  habits, 
became  a  wanderer  and  an  outcast,  and  died  a  pauper. 
Jones  establislied  himself  in  Norridgewock  in  1802.  He 
was  the  son  of  a  Avortliy  farmer  in  Concord,  Massachusetts, 
and  was  born  there  in  1768.  He  was  educated  at  Harvard 
College,  from  which  he  took  his  first  degree  in  1703,  in  a 
class  containing  the  distinguished  names  of  Judge  Charles 
Jackson  of  Massachusetts,  Francis  C.  Lowell,  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Coffin  of  Buxton  in  this  State,  the  Rev.  Dr.  John  Pierce  of 
Brookline,  and  Samuel  Thatcher  of  Brewer.  The  latter  is 
the  only  surviving  graduate  of  the  class.  Mr.  Jones  was  a 
man  of  fine  natural  abilities,  and  of  very  handsome  personal 
appearance.  His  father  spared  no  pains  to  give  these  qual- 
ities their  highest  advantages :  he  was  placed  under  the 
tuition  of  one  of  the  best  lawyers  in  the  county  of  Middle- 
sex. Being  trained  well  for  the  bar  to  which  he  was  admit- 
ted in  due  course,  he  opened  an  office  in  his  native  town. 
But  he  had  scarcely  entered  the  practice  before  the  war 
with  France  startled  the  whole  country  with  its  clarion  notes, 
and  the  excitable  and  ardent  young  men,  and  many  elders 
rose  respondent  to  the  shout.  We  have  seen  that  a  number 
of  our  profession  in  Maine  laid  down  their  law  books,  and 
put  on  tlie  harness  of  war.  Major  Stoddard  of  Hallowell 
was  a  prominent  one,  and  he  died  in  the  service  after  this 
impromptu  war  was  over.  The  war  of  1812  had  the  same 
inspiring  effect,  and  we  find  Gen.  Ripley  and  Col.  Larnedof 
our  State  eagerly  entering  the  army ;  and  so  it  is  in  the 
present  unhappy  conflict  all  over  the  North.  Members  of 
the  profession  are  quitting  the  peaceful  pursuits  of  the  forum 
for  the  great  arbitrament  of  ])attlc.  Col.  Shepley  and 
numerous  others  of  Maine,  we  trust  will  adorn  their  names 
with  the  trophies  i  of  the  field,  as  tiiey  have  with  those  of 
the  ])ar. 


408  WILLIAM   JONES. 

Jones  was  fired  up  with  military  zeal.  He  had  devoted 
much  time  to  the  study  and  practice  of  belligerent  tactics, 
and  having  a  fine  military  bearing  and  considerable  knowl- 
edge of  the  art,  he  received  a  commission  as  major,  and  pro- 
ceeded with  his  regiment  to  Oxford,  the  head-quarters  of 
the  army.  But  this  brief  war  was  terminated  as  it  begun, 
on  the  sea,  by  a  series  of  brilliant  actions,  such  as  have 
illustrated  the  naval  history  of  our  country  from  its  origin  to 
the  present  day.  On  the  disbanding  of  the  forces,  Mr.  Jones 
returned  to  the  bar,  less  fitted  for  the  practice  of  his  profes- 
sion than  when  he  broke  away  from  it.  He  never  could 
exorcise  his  military  visions,  and  after  he  moved  to  Nor- 
ridgewock,  he  paid  more  attention  to  the  parade  than  to  the 
bar ;  was  chosen  first  a  colonel,  then  a  brigadier  general ; 
rode  a  horse  elegantly,  and  made  a  very  showy  officer.  He 
practiced  in  Concord  until  near  the  close  of  1801, 
when  he  went  to  Warren  in  this  State,  and  the  next 
year  to  Norridgewock.  Norridgewock  was  incorporated 
June  18,  1788,  and  had,  in  1802,  about  six  hundred  and 
fifty  inhabitants.  It  is  a  beautiful  town,  the  county  seat, 
lying  on  both  sides  of  the  Kennebec  River,  and  contained, 
by  the  census  of  1860,  one  thousand  nine  hundred  inhabit- 
ants. Here  he  had  a  large  farm,  which  he  carried  on  in 
connection  with  his  law  business,  of  which,  for  a  time,  he 
had  a  full  share.  His  manners  were  easy  and  popular ;  he 
won  the  affection  of  the  people  ;  and  if  he  had  devoted  him- 
self to  either  his  farming  or  his  profession,  he  might  have 
retained  his  patrimony,  which  was  respccta])le,  and  made 
large  additions  to  it.  But,  fond  of  social  life,  fond  of  sports, 
proud  of  his  gay  horse  and  his  own  fine  person,  he  mingled 
in  assemblages  of  the  people,  and  thus  run  out  his  business, 
and  run  down  his  farm,  until  he  found  himself  dependent 
upon  the  good  will  of  his  friends  for  the  support  of  himself 
and  family.     When  Calvin  Selden  opened  his  office  by  the 


z^' 


# 


'^^ 


■\ 


(^P-ci>-^-t''V'<'^i-<.^  K^T.  /^/J<t?w?C-c:^cxt^^^^^^ 


WILLIAM   JONES  :    SAMUEL   A.  BRADLEY.  409 

side  of  him  in  1800,  Mr.  Jones  had  to  seek  other  resources 
to  sustain  himself. 

In  1809,  the  county  of  Somerset  was  organized,  and  the 
friends  of  i\Ir,  Jones  succeeded  in  procuring  for  him  the 
offices  of  clerk  of  the  courts  and  judge  of  Probate.  He  held 
the  clerkship  to  the  time  of  his  death,  except  for  a  period  of 
about  ten  months  during  the  administration  of  Gov.  Gerry 
in  1811,  who  made  a  pretty  general  sweep  of  all  the  oppo- 
nents of  his  administration.  He  resigned  the  office  of  judge 
of  Probate  a  short  time  previous  to  his  death,  which  took 
place  January  18,  I8I0,  at  the  age  of  forty-five. 

Mr.  Jones  was  a  man  of  wit,  ready  talents,  and  popular 
manners :  his  mind  was  capable  of  a  high  degree  of  im- 
provement. On  all  public  occasions,  and  as  presiding  officer 
at  meetings  of  the  people,  he  officiated  with  dignity  and 
ease.  And  had  he  given  to  his  profession  the  same  time 
and  effiart  which  he  permitted  to  run  wild  in  other  channels, 
he  would  have  been  a  distinguished  ornament  to  the  bar. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  his  youthful  diversion  to  the 
army  liad  an  unfortunate  influence  upon  the  future  success 
and  results  of  his  life. 

SAMUEL     AYER    BRADLEY.      180  3  —  1844. 

Mr.  Bradley  was  a  descendant  from  the  branch  of  the 
Bradley  family  which  established  itself  in  Concord,  New 
Hampshire,  as  early  as  1729,  among  the  first  settlers,  when 
the  plantation  yet  bore  the  Indian  name  of  Penacook.  His 
first  American  ancestor  probably  was  Daniel,  who,  according 
to  Savage,  came  in  the  Elizabeth  from  London,  in  1G35,  at 
the  age  of  twenty ;  settled  in  Haverhill,  Massachusetts,  where 
he  was  killed  by  the  Indians,  August  13,  1G89.  Daniel, 
probably  his  son,  with  his  wife  Hannah,  and  daughters  Mary 
and  Hannah,  were  also  killed  ))y  the  Indians,  March  15, 
27 


410  SAMUEL  A.  BRADLEY. 

1697.  Joseph,  of  Havcrliill,  who  is  known  to  hare  been 
the  ancestor  of  Saimiel,  the  subject  of  our  skctcli,  was  sur- 
prised in  his  garrison  house,  at  Haverhill,  February  8, 1704, 
and  his  wife  was  a  second  time  taken  captive,  and  carried 
away  by  this  relentless  enemy :  showing  a  series  of  suffer- 
ings and  disasters  seldom  accumulated  in  one  family. 

Abraham,  the  son  of  Joseph,  was  the  first  of  the  name 
who  settled  in  Penacook.  He  was  one  of  the  pioneers  who 
,  moved  up  from  the  lower  towns  on  the  Merrimac  to  the  rich 
meadows  and  intervals  higher  up  this  beautiful  river. 
Among  them  were  the  Abbots  from  Andover ;  Ayers,  Bayleys, 
Bradleys,  Clements,  Eastmans,  Emersons,  Hazens,  <tc.,from 
Haverhill ;  Osgoods,  Parkers,  and  Stevens  from  Andover ; 
Hall  and  Stickney  from  Bradford ;  Peabody  from  Salisbury, 
&c., — than  whom  no  better  colonists  occupied  the  virgin  soil 
of  New  England.  Abraham  Bradley  died  in  1754,  having 
had  ten  children  by  his  wife,  Abigail  Philbrick.  His  seventh 
son,  Samuel,  was  the  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  our  notice. 
He,  too,  was  inhumanly  massacred  by  the  Indians  in  1746, 
leaving  by  his  wife,  Mary  Folsom  of  the  Exeter  family,  a 
son,  John,  born  February  13, 1742,  and  a  daughter,  Mehit- 
abel,  born  1745.  John  married  Hannah  Ayer,  by  whom  he 
had  nine  children  ;  viz.,  Robert,  born  June  17,  1772,  who, 
by  his  wife,  Abigail  Bailey,  was  the  father  of  our  prominent 
citizens, —  the  late  distinguished  lawyer,  Samuel  Bradley  of 
Saco,  Dr.  Israel  Bailey  Bradley,  and  the  late  Alexander 
Ramsey  Bradley  of  Frycburg ;  the  other  cliildren  of  John 
were  Samuel  Ayer,  Mary,  John,  Moses  Hazen,  George,  Anna, 
Richard,  and  Ann  Ayer  who  married  John  S.  Barrow  of 
Fryeburg.  Richard,  the  only  surviving  son  of  this  large 
family,  was  born  February  28,  1790,  and  is  now  living  in 
Concord  in  the  enjoyment  of  a  handsome  estate,  and  the 
honor  of  a  well-spent  life. 

Samuel  Ayer  Bradley  was  born  in  Concord,  November  22, 


SAMUEL   A.  BRADLEY.  411 

1774.  His  father,  John  Bradley,  was  justly  esteemed  for 
his  many  virtues  and  the  usefulness  of  his  life.  Mr.  Bou- 
ton,  in  his  valuable  History  of  Concord,  says  he  was  "  one  of 
the  most  upright,  useful,  and  honored  citizens,  of  the  town." 
He  died  in  1815.  He  was  the  owner  of  large  tracts  of  land 
at  and  near  Fryeburg,  to  improve  which  three  of  his  sons, 
Robert,  John,  and  Samuel,  emigrated  to  that  town,  where 
they  became  useful  and  respected  citizens.  Samuel  went 
there  about  1794,  and  in  company  with  Asa  Eastman,  father 
of  our  respected  brother  of  the  bar,  Philip  Eastman  of  Saco, 
went  to  Cold  River  Valley,  about  fifteen  miles  north  of 
Fryeburg  Tillage,  erected  a  log  cabin,  and  spent  one  sum- 
mer in  the  forest,  felling  trees  and  clearing  lands  preparatory 
to  making  farms  and  a  permanent  settlement.  But  the 
discomforts  and  privations  of  this  mode  of  life,  and  the 
annoyance  of  the  mosquito  and  black  fly,  were  too  severe  a 
discipline  for  a  young  man  of  good  taste  and  ardent  aspira- 
tions. Returning  to  Fryeburg  in  the  autumn,  he  placed 
himself  under  the  instruction  of  Paul  Langdon,  a  graduate 
of  Harvard  in  the  class  of  1770,  and  the  first"  preceptor  of 
the  academy  at  Fryeburg,  by  wliom  he  was  prepared  for  col- 
lege, and  entered  Dartmouth  in  1795.  Perhaps  it  is  not  too 
much  to  say  that  the  bar  and  the  forum  are  indebted  mainly 
to  the  mosquitoes  and  black  flies  for  the  services  of  Mr. 
Bradley,  as  they  drove  him  from  the  pioneer  life  of  the  for- 
est. In  fitting  for  college,  he  was  a  schoolmate  of  the  late 
Benjamin  Orr,  who  had  been  occupied  in  his  trade  of  joiner 
in  Fryeburg.  They  both  boarded  at  the  house  of  Col.  Page, 
about  a  mile  from  the  academy,  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river.  As  it  was  something  of  a  task  to  ford  or  ferry  over 
the  river  in  a  canoe,  boarders  took  their  dinner  with  them. 
One  day,  their  good  landlady  made  for  their  lunch  a  largo 
custard  in  a  dish.  Orr  and  Edmund  Page,  son  of  the  Colo- 
nel, thinking  to  play  a  trick  upon  Bradley,  slily  put  tea- 


412  SAMUEL   A.  BRADLEY. 

spoons  ill  their  pockets.  This,  good  Mrs.  Page  ohserving, 
privately  supplied  Bradley  with  a  table-spoon.  So,  when 
they  sat  down  in  the  pine  grove  to  eat  their  dinner,  Orr  and 
Page  exultingly  produced  their  spoons,  and  began  eagerly 
to  invade  the  custard  :  judge  of  their  surprise  when  Sam 
brought  out  his  table-spoon  to  get  his  share  of  the  savory 
dish.     They  felt  that  the  joke  was  a  failure. 

Mr.  Bradley  took  his  first  degree  in  1700.  Among  his 
classmates  were  Charles  Coffni  and  Nathan  Kinsman,  subse- 
quently lawyers  in  this  State  ;  and  Roswell  Shurtleff,  long 
the  distinguished  professor  of  divinity  and  moral  philosophy 
in  the  college.  He  soon  after  commenced  the  study  of  law 
in  the  office  of  Samuel  Greene  of  Concord,  afterwards  a 
judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  New  Hampshire,  and  finished 
his  studies  in  Boston,  partly  in  the  office  of  John  Heard, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Suffolk. 

Mr.  Bradley,  whose  acquaintance  with  Daniel  Webster 
commenced  in  college,  was  two  years  his  senior.  Their 
friendship  continued  through  life.  Mr.  Bradley  was  quite 
sick  in  Concord  in  1800,  when  Mr.  Webster  came  down 
from  Salisbury,  watched  with  and  attended  upon  him.  The 
families  of  their  parents  were  on  intimate  terms.  Capt. 
Eastman,  an  aged  relative,  remarked  that  when  the  news  of 
the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill  reached  Salisbury,  Ebenezer  Web- 
ster, the  father  of  Daniel,  was  aroused,  and  the  next  day 
started  fully  equipped  for  the  scene  of  action.  On  his  way, 
he  called  at  the  house  of  John  Bradley,  father  of  Samuel, 
and  said  to  him,  "  Who  goes  from  Concord  ?"  "  I  go," 
replied  Mr.  Bradley  ;  "  get  off  your  horse,  and  spend  the 
night,  and  we  will  start  early  in  the  morning."  So  j)rompt 
were  the  patriots  of  that  day.  Mr.  Webster  and  Mr.  Brad- 
ley kept  up  a  correspondence  for  many  years,  and  Mr.  Brad- 
ley's friends  have  numerous  letters  of  the  distinguished 
statesman  to  him,  beginning  in  1801.    At  that  time,  Mr.  Web- 


SAMUEL   A.  BRADLEY  :   DANIEL   WEBSTER.  413 

ster  had  charge  of  tlie  Fryehurg  Academy,  was  a  student  in 
Judge  Dana's  olHcc,  and  was  helping  himself  along  by  writ- 
ing in  the  Registry  of  Deeds.  It  was  when  Mr.  Bradley 
was  in  Boston,  in  1801,  that  Mr.  Webster  wished  him  to 
procure  some  office  in  that  town  in  which  he  could  pursue 
his  law  studies.  Bradley  applied  to  Christopher  Gore,  then 
the  most  prominent  lawyer  in  Boston  ;  but  Mr.  Gore  declined 
receiving  him,  although  Mr.  Bradley  persevered  in  his  appli- 
cation. At  last,  he  carried  to  him  one  of  Mr.  Wel)ster's  lit- 
erary productions,  I  think  a  Fourth  of  July  oration,  and 
requested  Mr.  Gore  to  read  it,  and  then  see  if  he  would  not 
change  his  decision.  Mr,  Gore  took  it  with  some  impatience, 
saying  he  was  very  pertinacious,  and  dipped  into  it  here  and 
there,  finally  commenced  at  the  beginning,  and  i*ead  it 
through  ;  then  said,  "  Bring  your  young  friend  along,  and  I 
will  see  him."  Mr,  Gore  received  him  into  his  otBce,  and 
frequently  afterwards,  when  meeting  Mr.  Bradley  in  the 
street,  would  speak  to  him  pleasantly  for  bringing  that 
young  man  to  his  office. 

We  transfer  to  our  pages  a  specimen  of  the  correspond- 
ence of  these  friends,  Mr.  Webster  to  Mr.  Bradley,  genuine 
and  racy.  "  Boscawen,  August  10, 1806.  Dear  Sir, —  Cir- 
cumstances do  not  permit  me  to  see  you  this  week  at  Gil- 
man  ton.  1  am  late  from  Boston,  and  at  present  am  greatly 
pressed  in  my  time  by  some  little  affairs.  I  have  made  up 
my  mind  to  escort  you  to  Commencement,  if  you  desire  to 
take  that  mode  of  conveyance.  I  have  a  comfortable  chaise 
and  an  ordinary  horse,  that  can  draw  us  from  this  to  Han- 
over in  a  day.  If  you  have  a  nag  to  put  before  him  io  open 
the  cause,  mine,  1  think,  would  bring  up  the  rear  of  the 
argument  pretty  well.  LEowever,  we  shall  do  tolerably  well 
■with  one  horse. 

I  shall  expect  to  see  you  this  way  on  Friday  or  Saturday, 
when  we  will  make  a  definite  arrangement.     I  should  choose 


414  SAMUEL   A.  BRADLEY  :    DANIEL   WEBSTER. 

to  be  early  at  Hanover,  and  leave  immediately  after  Com- 
mencement. Thursday  and  Friday  are  languid  days.  Dr. 
Perkins  is  expected  this  way  to-morrow.  His  wife  is  at 
Hanover,  and  so  is  Mrs.  Ticknor.  I  hear  of  many  people 
who  think  of  visiting  Commencement, —  probably  because 
they  know  you  and  I  will  be  there,  and  the  collection,  I  fancy, 
will  be  numerous.  Yours  verily,        D.  AVebster. 

P.  S.  Rebecca — Miss  Rebecca  McGaw,  has  just  ridden  by 
my  window,  going  to  Commencement.  How  the  girls  expect 
us  I " 

An  anecdote  of  these  two  young  lawyers  and  friends  may 
not  be  out  of  place.  They  had  been  attending  court  at  San- 
born, New  Hampshire.  After  the  adjournment,  Mr.  Brad- 
ley took  Mr.  Webster  in  his  sleigh  on  their  return  home. 
He  had  a  fine,  large  horse,  justly  called  "  Old  Mars."  As 
they  were  rising  a  hill  toward  night,  they  overtook  a  feeble 
old  man  who  was  struggling  up  the  hill  with  a  load  of  wood 
drawn  by  a  poor,  broken-down  horse.  The  man,  in  turning 
his  horse  from  the  path  to  let  the  travelers  pass,  found  his 
team  sunk  in  the  deep  snow  on  the  side,  from  which  neither 
man  nor  horse  seemed  able  to  get  clear.  Webster  and 
Bradley  saw  the  sad  plight  and  sadder  countenance  of  the 
poor  woodman,  and  without  a  moment's  delay,  they  took 
their  powerful  horse  off  their  sleigh,  and,  putting  him  into 
the  woodman's  team,  soon  extricated  it,  and  moved  it  safely 
up  the  hill,  to  the  infinite  joy  of  the  poor  man,  and  their 
own  happy  consciousness  of  a  good  deed  promptly  done. 
They  had  a  hard  struggle  to  get  the  load  out  of  the  deep 
snow.  Mr.  Webster  used  a  rail  behind  the  load,  and  Brad- 
ley led  the  horse.  The  latter,  in  relating  the  story  in  after 
years,  said,  "  Webster  lifted  like  a  giant." 

Mr.  Bradley  established  himself  in  Fryeburg,  in  the  prac- 
tice of  law,  in  the  latter  part  of  1803,  or  early  in  1804,  find- 
ing there  Judali  Dana  and  Jacob  McGaw,  making  a  large 


SAMUEL   A.  BRADLEY.  415 

supply  of  legal  talent  for  the  small  population.     But,  then, 
nearly  all  the  lawyers  in  the  county  were  concentrated  at 
that  point,  there  being  but  three  others  within  its  limits. 
Mr.  McGaw  moved  to  Bangor  in  October,  1805,  and  left 
Judge  Dana  and  Mr.  Bradley  for  some  time  alone  :  of  them, 
one,  Dana,  was  appointed  judge,  and  the  other  register,  of 
Probate,  on  the  organization  of  the  county  of  Oxford,  in 
March,  1805.      There  was  much  rivalship  between  these 
gentlemen,  not  only  at  the  bar,  but  in  political  life  ;  for  Mr. 
Bradley  was  a  very  ardent  Federalist,  and  Judge  Dana 
became,  from  a  Federalist,  a  zealous  Democrat ;    and  the 
town,  in  its  political  character,  was  nearly  divided.     Mr. 
Bradley  had  numerous  family   connections  in  and  about 
Fryeburg,  which,  with  his  legal  ability  both  as  a  lawyer  and 
advocate,  secured  for  him  a  large  business.      He  attended 
the  courts  of  the  three  counties, —  Oxford,  York,  and  Cum- 
berland, and  maintained  a  respectable  rank  in  competition 
with  the  leading  lawyers  in  those  bars.     In  1810,  he  resigned 
the  office  of  register  of  Probate.     Mr.  Bradley  carried  the 
ardor  of  his  character  into  the  practice  of  his  profession : 
he  identified  himself  with  his  client  to  such  a  degree  as  to 
believe  him  the  abused  party,  and  entered  into  his  case  as  if 
vindicating  his  own :    he  often  contributed  from  his  own 
purse  to  pay  the  expenses  of  his  client's  suit.     He  was  an 
exceedingly  honorable  practitioner,  and  it  is  believed  that 
he  never  engaged  in  a  cause  which  he  considered  unjust ; 
although,  from  his  kindly  sympathies  or  impulsive  temper- 
ament, he  was  liable  to  be  deceived.      Pursuing  the  profes- 
sion on  such  principles,  it  was  not  a  money-making  business 
with  him,  nor  was  it  a  very  favorite  pursuit :  there  was  much 
in  the  details  of  practice  which  he  did  not  like.      He  took 
more  interest  in  politics  —  it  had  a  larger  sweep ;  and  during 
the  exciting  periods  of  the  embargo,  the  war  of  1812,  and 
the  discussions  on  separation,  he  threw  himself  with  all  his 


416  SAMUEL   A.  BRADLEY. 

■warmth  of  feeling  into  the  conflicts  of  party.  He  was  five 
years  a  nicmljcr  of  tlie  General  Court  from  Fryeburg,  from 
1813  to  1818,  and  took  a  very  prominent  part  in  the  debates 
of  the  house,  lie  was  a  violent  opponent  of  the  war  with 
Great  Britain,  and  of  the  separation  of  ]\laine  ;  and  wrote 
and  talked  and  pleaded  on  these  subjects  with  all  the  energy 
of  a  man  who  was  in  earnest.  His  speeches  were  long, 
minute,  and  loaded  with  illustration  and  fiicts.  Their  fault 
was  too  much  prolixity ;  but  he  was  so  fully  imbued  with 
the  spirit  of  his  subject  that  he  was  not  willing  to  let  it 
alone :  he  presented  it  in  all  ways,  and  repeated  his  thoughts 
in  new  language.  His  town  voted  against  the  separation  in 
1816,  sixty-five  yeas  to  seventy-six  nays,  and  he  was  returned 
a  delegate  to  the  Brunswick  Convention  as  an  opponent  of 
the  measure.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  he  repudiated  the 
mathematics  of  the  majority  of  the  Convention,  which 
endeavored  at  that  time  to  accomplish  the  separation  by  an 
ingenious  construction  of  the  condition  requiring  a  majority 
of  live  to  four  of  the  votes  cast  to  be  in  favor  of  the  object. 
A  renewed  effort  for  the  separation  immediately  followed 
the  former  defeat ;  and  no  measures  were  left  untried  by  its 
friends  to  give  it  success.  Their  writers  and  actors  were 
unwearied.  Mv.  Ware,  now  the  learned  judge,  was  invited 
from  Boston  to  aid  the  cause  by  his  vigorous  pen :  his 
articles  in  the  Eastern  Argus  did  essential  service  to  it. 
The  vote  was  taken  in  July,  1819,  and  resulted  in  a  large 
majority  for  the  affirmative  —  seventeen  thousand  and  ninety- 
one  in  favor,  and  seven  thousand  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  against  it.  The  vote  of  Fryeburg  was  seventy-eight 
yeas  to  seventy  nays.  This  decisive  vote  settled  tlie  (jues- 
tion,  and  there  remained  nothing  further  than  to  adjust  the 
affairs  and  laws  of  Maine  to  its  new  condition.  The  oppo- 
nents of  separation  liad,  therefore,  to  submit  to  the  fate  of 
unsuccessful  combatants  in  a  hard  contested  battle.      Mr. 


SAMUEL   A.  BRADLEY.  417 

Bradley  retired  from  the  field,  and  his  political  life  was 
ended. 

About  the  year  1825,  he  moved  to  Portland,  and  engaged 
in  speculations  in  timber  lands,  and  other  employments  out- 
side of  his  profession.  lie  was  very  successful  in  his  oper- 
ations, making  large  purchases  of  land ;  and  having  some 
familiarity  with  the  business,  and  the  value  of  such  property, 
and  giving  his  personal  attention  to  it,  it  became  a  source  of 
profit  and  wealth  to  him.  In  1825,  he  took  much  interest 
in  the  centennial  celebration  of  Lovell's  Battle,  as  it  was 
called,  which  occured  at  Pickwacket,  now  Fryeburg,  in  May, 
1725,  by  which  the  noted  tribe  of  Indians  seated  at  that 
place  suffered  severe  loss  in  the  death  of  their  leader,  Pau- 
gus.  Capt.  Lovell  was  also  killed,  and  but  eight  of  his 
company,  which  consisted  of  thirty-two  men,  returned  to 
report  the  distressing  tidings  of  the  disaster.  The  effect  of 
the  battle,  which  lasted  all  day,  was  so  discouraging  to  the 
Indians  as  to  induce  them  to  abandon  the  favorite  resort  of 
the  tribe.  The  event  was  thought  worthy  of  commemora- 
tion, and  the  people  of  Fryeburg  united  in  a  celebration 
worthy  of  the  occasion.  Ebenezer  Fessenden,  the  oldest 
son  of  the  Rev.  William  Fessenden,  was  the  presiding  officer. 
On  the  appointed  day,  a  large  concourse  of  people  assembled 
at  Fryeburg,  coming  not  only  from  neighboring  towns,  but 
from  Portland  and  other  distant  places.  A  numerous  pro- 
cession was  formed  in  the  village,  and  moved  to  the  pond, 
which  was  the  scene  of  the  principal  fight ;  and  there  Col. 
Bradley,  resting  upon  his  crutches,  for  he  was  suffering  from 
a  fractured  leg,  in  an  enthusiastic  and  eloquent  manner, 
addressed  the  assembled  crowd,  describing  the  battle,  and 
pointing  out  the  places  at  which  various  incidents  of  the 
bloody  engagement  took  place.  The  procession  then  returned 
to  the  village  meeting  house,  where  an  elaborate  and  beau- 
tiful oration  was  pronounced  by  Charles  S.  Daveis  of  Port- 


418  SAMUEL   A.  BRADLEY. 

land,  to  a  very  large  auditory.  The  ceremonies  of  the  day 
closed  by  a  public  dinner,  in  which  the  important  event,  the 
historic  scenes,  and  the  progress  of  society  through  the  hun- 
dred intervening  years,  were  freshly  remembered  and 
recounted.  Col.  Bradley  was  q^  leading  figure  in  this  joyous 
festival,  and  largely  contributed  to  its  inception  and  con- 
summation. 

Mr.  Bradley,  in  his  prime,  was  a  tall,  well-made,  and 
well-proportioned  man,  of  handsome  person,  and  easy,  pleas- 
ant address.  His  personal  appearance  was  not  unlike  that 
of  the  venerable  Josiah  Quincy.  In  the  latter  part  of  his 
life,  he  suffered  a  good  deal  from  lameness,  caused  by  the 
fracture  of  his  leg  in  being  thrown  from  a  carriage.in  1824 
or  '25.  He  alludes  to  this  in  his  will :  after  speaking  of 
the  soundness  of  his  mind  and  memory, — "  for  which,"  he 
says,  "  and  all  the  unmerited  favors,  mercies,  and  bless- 
ings conferred  upon  me,  I  desire  to  be  grateful  to  my  Heav- 
enly Father  " —  he  adds,  "  but  feeling  sensibly  the  debilitat- 
ing effects  of  the  severe  bodily  injuries  I  liave  suffered,  at 
different  periods  of  my  life  ;  and  of  the  protracted  and 
wasting  sicknesses  of  which  I  have  been  the  subject  within 
the  last  thirty-eight  years  ;  "  he  thinks  proper  to  make  his 
will.  This  was  in  1838  :  in  July,  1841,  feeling  the  need  of 
more  kind  and  affectionate  attention  than  he  could  receive 
at  a  boarding-house,  —  for  he,  unhappily,  never  enjoyed  the 
patient,  watchful,  and  assiduous  care  of  wife  and  children, — 
he  returned  to  Fryeburg;  and  died  at  the  house  of  his 
brother  Robert,  September  24,  1844,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
nine  years  and  ten  months. 

Mr.  Bradley  was  a  large-hearted  man  :  wherever  occasion 
offered,  which  demanded  his  aid  and  met  liis  approval,  he 
was  ready  witli  his  money  and  his  personal  services  for  the 
emergency;  and  to  his  particular  friends  in  distress,  or  to 


SAMUEL   A.  BRADLEY.  419 

those  who  presented  peculiar  claims  to  his  benevolence,  it 
seemed  as  though  he  could  never  do  enough.  In  the  case 
of  the  late  Mr.  Cushman,  who  had  been  thirty  years  pre- 
ceptor of  the  academy  in  Portland,  and  had  broken  down  his 
constitution  by  devotion  to  his  calling,  he  took  unwearied 
pains  to  obtain  an  office  for  him,  when  Gen.  Harrison  came 
into  power.  Among  other  means  employed,  he  wrote  to  his 
friend,  Mr.  "Webster,  a  most  earnest  appeal,  saying  that  he 
did  not  ask  office  for  himself,  —  he  wished  for  nothing,  — 
that  he  should  not,  probably,  live  to  see  another  Presiden- 
tial election ;  and  besought  him  by  their  long  friendship, 
and  as  the  last  request  he  would  make  of  him,  to  bestow 
the  sought-for  office  on  Mr.  Cushman.  The  office  was 
obtained  ;  and  the  hearts  of  these  two  worthy  men,  Bradley 
and  Cushman,  and  those  of  their  friends,  were  greatly 
cheered.  In  performing  these  acts  of  kindness,  Mr.  Bradley 
was  very  peculiar :  if  he  drew  a  check  on  the  bank  for  a 
person  he  was  assisting,  he  would  often  cover  the  back  of 
the  check  with  a  Avriting  expressive  of  his  motives  for 
drawing  it,  and  the  object  of  the  charity  ;  or,  his  views  in 
general.  This  profuseness  of  language,  both  in  speaking 
and  writing,  was  a  failing  in  Mr.  Bradley,  which  rendered 
him  sometimes  prolix  and  prosy ;  but  this  was  all  forgot- 
ten in  the  acts  of  sympathy  and  benevolence  which  he 
amply  displayed  in  his  life-time  ;  and  which  arc  perpetuated 
in  his  will,  wherein  he  remembered  numerous  living  friends, 
and  the  children  of  those  who  were  dead.  Among  these 
were, — Gen.Fesscnden,  Judge  Mollen,Mr.  Orr,Mr.  Hopkins, 
Mr.  Longfellow,  and  Mr.  Davcis,  his  companions  at  the  bar  ; 
and  many  others  who  had  his  sympathy  and  regard.  His 
benefactions  went  to  the  whole  extent  of  his  property,  and 
were  only  limited  by  the  amount  of  his  estate :  his  good 
wishes  far  transcended  that. 


420  JOHN   WILSON. 

JOHN     WILSON.      180  3  —  1848. 

John  "Wilson  was  another  of  the  strong-minded  men  and 
able  lawyers  of  the  Hancock  Bar,  contemporary  with  McGaw, 
Oilman,  Abbot,  Field,  Crosby,  and  Herbert.  They  were  all 
immigrants  :  all  received  a  liberal  education :  four  were 
from  New  Hampshire,  and  three  from  Massachusetts.  They 
were  competitors  at  the  bar,  and  in  the  struggle  for  life  ; 
and  all,  men  and  lawyers  of  honor,  ability,  and  success. 

Mr.  Wilson  was  of  Scotch-Irish  descent :  his  first  Ameri- 
can ancestor,  James  Wilson,  came  from  the  north  of  Ireland, 
about  1722,  to  Londonderry  in  New  Hampshire.  The  fam- 
ily afterwards  established  itself  under  the  shadow  of  the 
Grand  Monadnock,  in  tlie  new  settlement  of  Peterborough  ; 
which  was  occupied  about  1750,  principally  by  settlers  of 
the  Scotch-Irish  race,  —  the  Morrisons,  the  Cunninghams, 
the  Wilsons.  Here  Mr.  Wilson  was  born  in  1777 :  here, 
too,  was  the  birth-place  of  Jeremiah  Smith,  governor  and 
chief  justice  of  New  Hampshire,  —  eminent  for  his  learning 
and  wit ;  and  the  Steeles,  a  governor,  a  general,  and  a  judge. 
The  Wilsons  took  prominent  rank  among  the  distinguished 
men  whom  this  town  has  produced,  for  strong  intellectual 
powers,  fine  physical  organization,  and  persevering  industry. 
After  passing  through  his  preliminary  studies,  Mr.  Wilson 
entered  Harvard  College,  from  which  he  took  his  degree  in 
1799,  in  the  class  with  Professor  Cleaveland  of  Bowdoin 
College ;  Rev.  William  Frothingham,  the  esteemed  minister 
of  Belfast ;  Joseph  Dane  of  Kennebunk  ;  Gen.  Sumner  and 
Dr.  Wyman  of  Massachusetts. 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Wilson  entered  the  office  of  his 
elder  brother,  James  Wilson,  at  Peterborough,  who  was  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  in  1789  ;  a  member  of  Congress, 
1809  — 1811  ;  a  distinguished  lawyer  of  New  Hampshire  ; 
and  who  died  at  Keene  in  1839.     With  tlic  high  qualities 


JOHN   WILSON.  421 

of  Mr.  Wilson,  and  the  advantages  he  enjoyed  in  his  broth- 
er's office,  he  made  substantial  progress  in  the  knowledge  of 
the  law,  which  he  had  the  intellectual  ability  to  appreciate 
and  comprehend.  At  the  end  of  three  years'  study,  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  ;  and  in  1803,  came  to  Belfast  to  com- 
mence the  practical  business  of  his  life.  Here  he  found 
two  other  young  lawyers  of  talents,  industry,  and  enterprise, 
who  were  earnestly  pursuing  the  occupation  destined  to  give 
them  an  honorable  support.  He  fearlessly  entered  into  this 
competition  :  he  perceived  that  the  field  was  broad,  and  its 
prospective  growth  encouraging.  The  beautiful  harbor, 
set  like  a  gem  on  the  margin  of  the  bay,  invited  commerce  : 
the  ample  country,  with  its  old  forests  around,  hardly 
touched  by  the  woodman's  axe,  gave  assurance  that  enter- 
prise and  industry  would  awaken  their  echoes  through  the 
surrounding  woods  and  along  the  ever-resounding  waters  of 
the  sea.  Mr.  Wilson  was  sanguine  and  courageous :  his 
heart  gave  token  to  the  intellect,  and  he  bravely  put  on  the 
harness  which,  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  he  kept  untar- 
nished, and  only  laid  aside  on  the  requirements  of  physical 
inability.  Hancock  County  extended  on  both  sides  of  the 
Penobscot  River  to  the  Canada  line,  on  the  west  side  from 
Camdeii,  and  on  the  east  side  from  the  sea :  it  embraced 
Belfast,  Bangor,  Castine,  Bucksport,  and  other  flourishing 
towns.  In  that  early  day,  there  was  a  very  small  sprinkling 
of  lawyers  in  Washington  County,  so  that  persons  who  had 
acquired  some  note  at  the  bar  in  adjoining  counties,  were 
accustomed  to  attend  the  courts  in  that  county,  a  long  and 
weary  way,  as  the  road  then  was  through  unbroken  forests 
and  across  the  oi)cn  bay.  The  lawyers  from  Bangor  and 
Belfast  regularly  attended  the  courts  of  the  county  which 
were  held  at  Castine,  and  extended  their  circuit  on  to  ^la- 
chias,  in  Washington  County. 

It  was  not  till  1^00  that  a  term  of  the    Supreme    Court 


422  JOHN   WILSON. 

was  held  as  far  cast  as  Hancock,  then  one  terra  a  year  was 
held  at  Castine  for  the  counties  of  Hancock  and  Washins:- 
ton.  And  Washington  County  had  no  term  of  the  Supreme 
Court  held  within  it  until  after  tiic  separation.  Living  in 
the  same  town  with  Mr.  Crosby,  and  sharing  with  him  the 
principal  business  of  the  place  and  adjacent  country,  they 
were  usually  employed  on  opposite  sides  of  important  ques- 
tions. Mr.  "Wilson  sustained  himself  successfully  and  hon- 
orably in  these  forensic  contests,  which  were  always  con- 
ducted, as  we  might  suppose  from  the  elevated  principles 
which  guided  their  conduct,  without  resort  to  the  tricks 
which  inferior  minds  are  apt  to  employ  to  accomplish  their 
purposes.  Their  struggles  were  often  severe,  but  always 
manly  :  intellectual  forces  were  the  weapons,  and  the  con- 
test was  for  the  right,  for  truth,  and  justice.  This  rivalry 
continued  until  Mr.  Crosby  was  placed  upon  the  bench  in 
1811.  Soon  after,  in  1812,  Mr.  Wilson  was  elected  to  the 
Thirteenth  Congress,  which  held  three  sessions  in  1813  and 
1814,  during  his  term,  occupying  three  hundred  and  seven- 
ty-one days,  it  being  the  busy  time  of  the  war  with  England. 
At  the  next  term,  he  was  defeated,  but  returned  to  the 
Fifteenth  Congress,  1817 — 1819.  These  interruptions  with- 
drew him  much  from  practice,  but  he  returned  from  this 
political  episode  with  new  vigor,  which  continued  undimin- 
ished until  1823. 

In  the  early  part  of  the  winter  of  1823  and  1824,  he  was 
exposed,  without  an  overcoat,  to  a  severe  squall,  with  damp 
snow  that  filled  his  ears,  and  so  completely  enveloped  his 
neck  and  face  as  to  produce  in  him  such  severe  cold  and 
fever  as  to  confine  him  to  his  house,  amid  great  suffering, 
through  several  succeeding  months.  But  a  small  portion  of 
his  accustomed  labors  were  performed  by  him  in  the  next 
succeeding  summer,  though  he  argued  some  causes  pending 
in  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  in  his  own  and  two  other 
counties,  with  respectable  ability. 


JOHN  WILSON.  423 

111  September,  1824,  while  engaged  in  court  at  Macliias, 
soon  after  the  opening  to  the  jury  of  an  action  in  which  he 
was  senior  counsel  for  the  plaintiff,  he,  unexpectedly  to 
everybody,  exhibited  evidence  of  total  aberration,  or  oblivi- 
ousness of  the  subject  in  which  he  was  engaged.  The  cause 
was  stopped,  and  he  retired  with  a  friend  to  his  lodgings, 
•  and  in  a  few  minutes,  recovered  his  consciousness,  but  not 
his  usual  physical  or  intellectual  force.  Within  three  or 
four  days,  he  was  able  to  return  to  his  family  and  home  at 
Belfast,  though  in  feeble  health.  But  the  truth  that  his 
whole  system  was  shattered,  and  that  fragments  only  of  the 
strong  man  remained,  became  from  year  to  year,  painfully 
obvious  to  his  numerous  friends. 

The  blow  was  then  struck  to  the  efficiency  and  successful 
effort  of  this'brilliant,  powerful  man.  He  lingered  through 
gradually  decaying  years,  until  his  life  happily  closed  on  the 
Dth  of  August,  1848,  at  the  age  of  seventy-one  years.  His 
early  friends  deeply  mourned  over  the  ruins  of  the  once  able 
lawyer,  the  ingenious  advocate,  and  the  inflexible,  upright 
man. 

One  of  his  contemporaries  thus  speaks  of  him :  "  Mr.  Wil- 
son was  a  strong  man  ;  but  for  his  eminence  at  the  bar,  he 
was  more  indebted  to  keen  observation  and  a  retentive  mem- 
ory than  to  a  knowledge  of  books.  For  a  great  many  years, 
until  his  health  failed,  he  took  the  lead  of  the  bar,  having  a 
large  practice,  extending  into  the  counties  of  Lincoln,  Han- 
cock, Washington,  and  Penobscot.  He  displayed  wonderful 
tact  and  ingenuity  in  the  management  of  jury  trials.  Al- 
though Mr.  Wilson  was  accused,  by  some,  of  being  rather 
slow  in  his  enunciation  and  long  in  his  addresses  to  the  jury, 
yet  no  man  was  listened  to  with  more  gratification,  especial- 
ly by  his  clients.  A  friend  once  asked  Mr.  AVilson  if  he  did 
not  think  his  arguments  were  too  long.  His  answer  was, 
'  Did  you  ever  hear  my  clients  complain  of  the  length  of  my 


424  JOHN    WILSON. 

arguments  ? '  Mr.  Wilson  possessed  another  very  important 
trait  in  the  character  of  a  coiuisellor  ;  viz.,  coohiess  and  self- 
possession.  No  man  ever  saw  him  moved  by  anger  in  the 
trial  of  a  cause." 

Another  gentleman,  Mr.  McGaw,  to  whose  recollections  I 
have  been  greatly  indebted  in  the  preparation  of  my  sketches, 
who  knew  Mr.  AVilson  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  re- 
marked, "  Mr.  Wilson's  ability  and  worth  as  an  advocate 
was,  in  the  early  period  in  his  practice,  known  and  appre- 
ciated in  the  adjoining  county  of  Washington,  where,  for 
more  than  twenty  years,  he  argued  one  side  of  nearly  every 
action  that  was  tried  by  a  jury.  His  memory  was  so  un- 
commonly retentive  that  nothing  presented  in  evidence  that 
could  have  the  slightest  bearing  on  the  cause  in  hand,  was 
forgotten  or  omitted  in  argument.  Indeed,  extreme  minute- 
ness was  sometimes  attributed  to  him  as  a  fault ;  but  his  ap- 
plication of  all  the  facts  in  a  case  on  trial  made  him  a  diffi- 
cult adversary  to  be  encountered." 

In  regard  to  Mr.  Wilson's  social  qualities,  which  give  the 
rounding  off  to  the  finished  man,  his  townsman,  Mr.  William- 
son, shall  touch  the  canvass  :  "  He  took  an  early  interest  in 
agriculture  and  its  products  ;  and  having  a  most  retentive 
memory,  he  would  recollect,  for  years,  everything  about  the 
quality  of  horses  and  oxen  in  his  neighborhood.  This 
brought  him  into  acquaintance  with  farmers  far  and  near, 
who  were  surprised  as  well  as  gratified  to  perceive  his  mi- 
nute observation  and  judgment  in  such  matters.  At  all 
times,  in  his  most  palmy  days  as  a  lawyer,  even  while  in 
Congress,  he  was  perfectly  free  from  pride  or  ostentation. 
It  mattered  not  who  approached  him,  the  high  or  low,  rich 
or  poor,  young  or  old,  he  was  alike  accessible  to  all.  He 
had  'a  word  for  each  and  all,  whether  it  related  to  the  affairs 
of  the  nation,  a  patent  right,  or  the  quality  of  a  yoke  of 
oxen  ;  and  in  all  this  familiar  intercourse  with  all  classes  of 


GEORGE   HERBERT.  425 

people,  it  is  remarkable  that  he  never  lost  one  jot  of  that 
dignity  of  character  which  belonged  to  his  standing  as  a 
public  man.  Under  all  circumstances,  at  home  or  abroad, 
he  uniformly  maintained,  in  whatever  company  he  chanced 
to  fall,  even  to  the  last  moment,  that  native  politeness  and 
gentlemanly  bearing  in  his  deportment  which  were  peculiar 
to  him." 

GEORGE     HERBERT.      1803  —  1820. 

George  Herbert,  the  only  son  of  George  and  Honor  (  Dick- 
inson) Herbert,  was  born  in  Deerfield,  Massachusetts,  Au- 
gust 18,  1778.  His  father,  also,  was  an  only  son  of  the 
Rev.  John  Herbert,  who  came  to  this  country  about  the 
middle  of  the  last  century,  as  a  chaplain  and  surgeon  in  the 
English  army.  He  is  said  to  have  spent  the  latter  years  of 
his  life  as  a  missionary  in  Maine,  and  died  in  that  service 
about  1780.  The  father  and  mother  of  Mr.  Herbert  died 
in  his  infancy,  and  he  was  left  an  orphan  at  an  age  when 
the  care  and  solicitude  of  parents  are  especially  needed  to 
guide  the  infant  footsteps  ;  but  this  duty  devolved  upon  his 
maternal  grandparents,  which,  from  the  results  of  after  life, 
would  seem  to  have  been  faithfully  applied.  He  spent  the 
early  years  of  his  life  in  his  native  village,  where  he  was 
marked  for  gentleness  of  manners,  united  with  high  mental 
endowments,  studious  habits,  and  great  skill  in  athletic 
exercises.  It  being  desirous  to  give  him  a  collegiate  educa- 
tion, he  was  sent  to  the  academy  at  Petersham,  where  he 
was  duly  qualified  for  and  admitted  to  the  freshmen  class  in 
Dartmouth  College,  in  179G.  We  have  the  testimony  of 
two  friends  and  contemporaries  as  to  his  college  standing : 
William  Abbot  says,  "  He  was  distinguished  at  college  for 
the  regularity  of  his  conduct,  and  his  progress  and  tastq  in 
classical  literature."  Mr.  McGaw,  liis  senior,  during  his 
27 


426         GEORGE  HERBERT:  JOHN  G.  DEANE. 

freshman  year,  says,  "  lie  became  a  pet  in  his  class,  and 
acquired  the  friendship  of  many  members  of  other  classes. 
Respectability  of  character  for  scholarship,  and  gentle,  manly 
deportment,  was  awarded  him  throughout  liis  collegiate 
course."  Among  his  classmates  were  Prof.  Dean,  Prof.  Dr. 
Cyrus  Perkins,  and  Eleazer  W.  Ripley,  afterwards  a  lawyer 
in  Maine,  and  a  general  in  the  War  of  1812. 

On  leaving  college,  he  entered  the  office  of  Theodore 
Sedgwick,  who,  in  1802,  was  appointed  judge  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Massachusetts,  under  whose  valuable 
instruction  and  extensive  practice  lie  acquired  a  knowledge 
of  his  profession,  and  a  faculty  for  business,  which  enabled 
him  to  enter  with  advantage  and  success  on  the  practical 
duties  of  life.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1803,  and 
established  himself  at  Ellsworth  in  the  autumn  of  that 
year. 

Ellsworth  was  then  a  new  town.  It  was  not  incorporated 
until  1800,  and  then  it  contained  but  two  hundred  and 
twenty-seven  inhabitants.  But  it  embraced  a  large  territory, 
and  had  great  advantages  for  business  by  its  water  power, 
its  neighborhood  both  to  the  sea  and  the  forest,  and  the 
enterprise  of  the  men  who  laid  the  foundation  of  the  pres- 
ent flourishing  settlement.  Mr.  Herbert  was  its  first  lawyer, 
and  the  only  one  until  1809,  when  John  G.  Deane,  after- 
wards distinguished  for  his  services  on  the  northeastern 
boundary  question,  settled  there.  Mr.  Deane  was  a  graduate 
of  Brown  University,  in  the  class  of  1806  ;  and  was  descended 
from  John  Deane,  one  of  the  original  purchasers  and  settlers 
of  Taunton,  Massachusetts,  to  whicii  he  removed  in  1G39. 
Mr.  Deane  became  eminent  as  a  statesman  and  lawyer.  He 
moved  to  Portland  in  1835,  and  died  in  November,  1839,  at 
the  age  of  fifty-four;  leaving  a  widow  and  several  children, 
some  of  whom  are  following  their  father's  profession. 

When  Mr.  Herbert  took  up  his  residence  in  Ellsworth, 


GEORGE    HERBERT.  427 

tlierc  were  but  four  lawyers  in  what  now  constitutes  the 
county  of  Hancock  ;  viz.,  Job  Nelson  and  William  Abbot  at 
Castine,  Thomas  S.  Sparhawk  at  Buckstown,  and  Nathaniel 
Coffin  at  Surry  ;  and  in  the  county  of  Washington  but  two, 
Phineas  Bruce  at  Machias,  and  Daniel  P.  Upton  at  the  land's 
end — Eastport ;  none  of  whom  were  within  twenty  miles  of 
him.  But  if  the  lawyers  were  few  and  far  between,  so  were 
the  people,  their  resources,  and  their  business  connections  : 
the  whole  county  contained,  in  1800,  but  about  one  thousand 
three  hundred  inhabitants  ;  and  the  lawyers,  like  the  other 
settlers,  all  new  and  fresh  upon  a  virgin  soil,  had  need  to 
wait  until  they  could  build  up  a  society  and  institutions,  and 
generate  quarrels  on  which  the  lawyers  could  live.  But  Mr. 
Herbert  was  no  stirrer  of  strife  :  he  was  literally  a  peace- 
maker— a  healer  of  strife  ;  and  the  concurrent  evidence  of 
those  who  knew  him  well  all  through  his  professional  life, 
places  the  stamp  of  truth  to  the  statement  furnished  by  Mr. 
McGaw  :  "  The  gentleness  of  Mr.  Herbert's  manners,  and 
the  purity  of  his  morals,  soon  won  for  him  the  confidence 
and  friendship  of  those  persons  with  whom  he  had  business 
relations,  and  the  respect  of  the  whole  community.  Profes- 
sional avocations  soon  occupied  so  much  of  his  time  as  he 
chose  to  devote  to  them,  and  were  as  profitable  as  could  rea- 
sonably be  expected  in  so  new  a  region  of  country.  Mr. 
McGaw  continues,  "  Among  the  early  clients  of  Mr.  Her- 
bert was  Col.  John  Black,  the  very  efficient  agent  of  the 
proprietors  of  the  '  million  acres.'  The  services  rendered 
by  his  counsel  were  highly  satisfactory  to  Col.  Black,  and 
were  introductory  to  his  employment  for  other  persons  in 
the  courts  of  Hancock  and  Washington  Counties,  in  which 
the  million  acres  were  situated,  during  the  life  of  Mr.  Her- 
bert." 

This  seems  to  afford  me  a  fit  opportunity  to  say  a  word  of 
the  excellent  man  whose  name  I  have  just  mentioned.     Col. 


428  GEORGE  HERBERT:  JOHN  BLACK. 

Black  was  a  native  of  England,  and  born  in  London,  July 
3,  1781.  At  an  early  age  he  was  employed  in  the  banking 
house  of  Hope  &  Co.,  one  of  whose  members  was  interested 
in  the  Bingham  Purchase,  or  million  acres,  as  the  tracts 
were  called,  lying  in  Maine.  The  late  General  David  Cobb 
of  Gouldsboro',  in  Maine,  and  John  Richards  of  Boston,  were, 
in  1798,  appointed  agents  for  the  sale  and  settlement  of  these 
large  tracts.  John  Black  was,  fortunately  for  himself  and 
the  proprietors,  although  only  seventeen  years  of  age,  sent 
out  with  Mr.  Richards,  then  in  London,  as  their  clerk.  He 
went  first  to  Gouldsboro',  but  finally  settled  in  Ellsworth,  in 
1809.  On  the  death  of  Gen.  Cobb,  in  1830,  he  became  his 
successor,  and  when  Mr.  Richards  died,  the  sole  agent ;  in 
which  responsible  and  arduous  trust  he  acquitted  himself 
with  the  highest  integrity  and  skill,  and  to  the  entire  satisfac- 
tion of  his  employers.  Col.  Black's  first  wife  was  a  daughter 
of  Gen.  Cobb,  and  his  second  wife  a  granddaughter.  He  died 
October  25,  1856.  After  the  death  of  Mr.  Herbert,  Mr. 
Deane  was  Col.  Black's  confidential  counsel  and  attorney. 

In  the  political  years  1813, 1814,  and  1815,  Mr.  Herbert 
represented  his  town  in  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts. 
He  was  a  decided  Federalist  in  his  politics,  and  acted  uni- 
formly with  that  party.  That  he  truly  represented  the  sen- 
timent of  Ellsworth  may  be  judged  from  the  unequivocal 
state  of  parties  in  that  town  :  its  vote  for  Gov.  Strong,  at  the 
first  election  of  Mr.  Herbert  as  representative,  was  sixty- 
three  to  six  for  Varnum,  the  opposition  candidate.  In  1816, 
he  was  appointed  county  attorney  of  Hancock,  as  successor 
to  William  I).  Williamson  of  Bangor,  Avliose  office  became 
vacant  by  the  incorporation  of  Penobscot  County  in  that 
year.  Mr.  Herbert's  practice,  already  large,  became  extended 
by  this  appointment,  which  he  held  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
This  took  place  at  Ellsworth,  ])y  consum})tion  of  the  lungs, 
January  2,  1820,  at  the  early  age  of  forty-one. 


GEORGE   HERBERT.  429^ 

We  cannot  give  a  better  summary  of  Mr.  Herbert's  life 
and  labors  than  l)y  adopting  the  proceedings  of  the  bar  of 
Hancock  at  the  next  term  of  the  court  after  his  decease. 
The  bar,  at  the  March  term,  1820,  adopted  the  following 
resolutions  unanimously : 

^'•Resolved,  Tliat  they  deplore  the  loss  they  have  sustained 
in  the  death  of  their  lamented  brother,  George  Herbert,  who, 
by  his  kindness,  ability,  and  integrity,  had  obtained  in  a  high 
degree  their  esteem  and  confidence ;  and  as  a  mark  of  their 
regard,  for  his  memory,  they  will  wear  the  usual  badge  of 
mourning  on  the  left  arm  during  the  term  of  the  court. 

^^ Resolved,  That  Mr.  Nelson,  Mr.  Wilson,  and  Mr.  Abbot 
be  a  committee  to  address  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Herbert,  expres- 
sive of  the  feelings  of  the  bar  upon  this  melancholy  occa- 
sion ;  and  that  a  copy  of  the  foregoing  resolution  with  an 
extract  from  the  charge  of  the  Hon.  Judge  Crosby  to  the 
Grand  Jury  be  therein  inclosed." 

The  remarks  of  Judge  Crosby  so  fully  describe  the  char- 
acter of  Mr.  Herbert,  that  they  cannot  properly  be  withheld 
from  this  notice.  He  says,  "  It  is  my  melancholy  duty  to 
announce  to  you  a  vacancy  in  the  office  of  county  attorney, 
by  the  decease  of  George  Herbert,  Esq.,  late  attorney  of 
this  county.  The  worth  and  character  of  this  man  do  not 
permit  me  to  pass  over  them  in  silence,  and  yet  the  time  and 
occasion  will  not  enable  me  to  do  them  justice.  He  received 
his  classical  education  at  Dartmouth,  and  pursued  the  study 
of  the  law  under  the  late  Judge  Sedgwick.  I  have  heard 
that  great  man  speak  of  Mr.  Herbert  in  terms  of  high  eulogy 
and  affection.  His  professional  life  was  spent  in  Ellsworth. 
For  several  years,  he  represented  the  town  in  the  State  Leg- 
islature, and  has  sustained  the  offices  of  magistrate  and 
county  attorney  with  integrity  and  ability.  In  whatever 
period  of  life,  and  in  whatever  station  we  view  him,  we  find 


430  UEORGE   HERBERT. 

liiin  the  same, —  unassuming,  industrious,  persevering,  en- 
lightened, and  just.  If  he  had  any  fault,  it  was  excess  of 
zeal  in  any  cause  he  deemed  to  be  just,  and  that  required 
his  services.  In  such  a  cause,  he  spared  neither  his  time 
nor  his  talents,  his  health  nor  his  happiness.  He  was  sus- 
ceptible of  the  purest  and  most  permanent  friendship,  and 
few  men  had  more  friends  than  usually  surrounded  him. 
Although  not  bred  a  physician,  his  superior  knowledge  in 
this  department  of  science,  and  his  humanity,  made  him  the 
physician  of  his  neighborhood.  I  have  myself  witnessed  his 
gratuitous  labors  of  love  and  symi)athy  among  his  neighbors 
and  townsmen.  When  sickness  and  death  were  before  him, 
he  forgot  his  own  concerns,  his  professional  pursuits,  and 
even  his  own  family,  and  devoted  himself  to  the  bedside  of 
the  sick  and  the  dying.  He  was  the  father  of  the  fatherless, 
and  every  youth  whom  fortune  threw  under  his  roof  was 
his  child  and  the  object  of  his  tenderest  care  and  solicitude. 
In  the  relation  of  a  parent,  he  exhibited  an  example  scarcely 
imitable,  and  which  no  language  can  describe.  He  studied 
the  character  of  infancy  and  youth  with  assiduity,  and  gave 
a  practical  example  in  his  family,  at  how  early  a  period  the 
principles  of  science,  obedience,  and  virtue  may  be  implanted 
in  the  youthful  mind. 

As  a  counsellor  and  advocate,  his  character  is  too  well 
known  in  this  county  to  require  a  particular  delineation. 
He  seldom,  if  ever,  misled  his  clients  by  his  advice,  and  in 
the  management  of  his  causes,  was  faithful  and  persevering 
almost  to  a  fault.  Although  minute  in  argument,  he  never  dis- 
cussed without  point  or  object,  and  never  quitted  his  subject 
without  taking  every  possible  view  of  which  it  was  suscep- 
tible. These  are  but  a  few  outlines  of  the  character  of  Mr. 
Herbert.  The  loss  to  his  family  is  irreparable.  His  fellow 
townsmen  will  not  find  another  more  devoted  to  tlieir  inter- 


GEORGE  HERBERT.  4^1 

est  and  welfare ;  and  his  county  must  feel  the  loss  of  so 
valuable  a  character." 

To  tliis  honorable  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Mr.  Herbert, 
from  so  wise  and  truthful  a  man  as  Judge  Crosby,  little  need 
be  added.  His  particular  friend,  Wm.  Abbot  of  Castine, — 
to  have  such  a  friend  is  proof  of  merit,  —  in  a  Ijrief  obituary, 
said,  "  At  the  bar,  he  was  distinguished  for  his  correct  knowl- 
edge of  the  law,  for  ardor  and  perseverance  in  the  causes  in 
which  he  was  engaged,  for  fair  and  honorable  practice,  and 
for  perfect  integrity.  As  a  man,  he  was  firm  and  undeviat- 
ing  in  the  pursuit  of  what  he  thought  right,  without  regard 
to  private  interest ;  and  he  held  in  contempt  tiiat  popularity 
which  was  not  the  consequence  of  correct  views  and  motives." 
Of  his  private  life,  Mr.  Abbot  thus  speaks :  "  In  this  point 
of  view,  the  character  of  the  deceased  was  peculiarly  inter- 
esting, and  embraced  a  rare  assemblage  of  the  milder  vir- 
tues. Integrity,  benevolence,  and  reverence  for  the  Supreme 
Being,  formed  the  great  outline  of  his  character.  Memory 
will  recur  with  delight  to  past  scenes,  and  fill  these  ^utlines, 
and  complete  a  picture  which  must  forever  remain  dear  to 
his  afllicted  family  and  friends." 

Mr.  Herbert  was  excessively  fond  of  music,  in  which  he 
thoroughly  harmonized  with  Mr.  Abbot,  whose  soul  was 
attuned  to  the  divine  art.  Mr.  Abbot's  son  Charles  writes 
me  that  he  well  remembered  Mr.  Herbert  when  he  resided 
in  Ellsworth.  "  Before  the  division  of  the  counties,"  he 
says,  "  the  late  Allen  Oilman  of  Bangor,  and  Mr.  Herbert, 
attended  the  courts  here.  They  passed  court  week  at  my 
father's.  All  three  were  very  fond  of  music ;  and  glees, 
songs,  and  other  music  were  usually  the  order  of  the  even- 
ing." 

From  another  source, —  a  lady, —  who  was  an  acquaint- 
ance, we  have  another  view  into  ^Ir.  Herbert's  character. 
She  says,  "  He  was  quite  eccentric,  though  kind-hearted. 


432        GEORGE  HERBERT:  JUDAH  MCLELLAN. 

very  sociable  and  companionable,  yet  sometimes  taciturn. 
He  was  fond  of  music  and  society,  and  his  literary  attain- 
ments and  tastes  were  of  a  superior  order."  She  adds,  "  One 
of  his  eccentricities  related  to  his  attending  court.  These 
were  held  part  of  the  time  at  Castine,  some  thirty-four  miles 
from  Ellsworth.  Instead  of  starting  in  the  early  part  of  the 
day,  or  after  dinner,  with  others  whose  business  called  them 
to  court,  he  would  wait  until  after  tea,  start  off  alone  on 
liorseback,  and  ride  through  by  night.  Often  the  family  of 
Mr.  Abbot,  where  he  usually  stopped,  would  be  aroused  in 
the  night  for  his  admission  :  sometimes,  unwilling  to  disturb 
them,  he  would  sleep  in  the  barn  until  the  family  were 
astir." 

Mr.  Herbert  was  of  medium  size,  had  dark  hair  and  eyes, 
and  his  manner,  we  are  told,  was  somewhat  quick  and 
abrupt. 

On  the  fourth  of  December,  1807,  Mr.  Herbert  married 
Miss  Charlotte  Tuttle,  a  daughter  of  William  Tuttle,  Esq.,  of 
Littleton,  Massachusetts,  by  whom  he  had  four  children, 
who  all  survive.  His  eldest  son,  George,  is  a  lawyer  in  Chi- 
cago, Illinois,  having  commenced  practice  in  Ellsworth  :  his 
second  son,  Rev.  Charles  Dickinson  Herbert,  was  educated 
at  Bowdoin  College,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1841,  and 
is  now  residing  in  Newburyport :  his  eldest  daughter,  Mary, 
married  the  Rev.  Mr.  Peabody,  a  foreign  missionary,  but 
now  resident  in  Newburyport,  as  are  also  her  mother  and  sis- 
ter Charlotte.  They  all  retain  a  most  lively  and  affection- 
ate remembrance  of  the  virtues  and  high  qualities  of  the 
distinguished  and  honored  man  who  has  been  the  subject  of 
our  present  notice. 

JUDAH     MCLELLAN.      1803  —  1860. 

The  immigrant  lawyers  to  Maine  came  principally  from 
Massachusetts  and  Xcw  Hampshire.      But  occasionally  a 


JUDAH   MCLELLAN.  433 

stranger  from  Connecticut  lighted  among  us,  to '  seek  his 
fortune  in  this  remote  region.  Among  these,  was  the  late 
Attorney  General  Foote  of  Wiscasset,  Oliver  Bray  of  Port- 
land, and  Judah  McLellan  of  Bloomfield.  Mr.  McLellan 
was  born  in  Thompson,  the  northeast  corner  town  of  Con- 
necticut, in  1779 ;  and  is  said  to  be  of  the  same  lineage, 
and  a  near  relative  of  George  B.  McClellan,  recent  com- 
mander of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  He  was  graduated 
at  Brown  University  in  1799,  in  the  class  with  the  lat6  Pres- 
ident Chaplin  of  Waterville  College,  Senator  Dixon,  and 
Judge  Pitman,  both  of  Rhode  Island.  He  had  faithfully 
improved  his  opportunities  at  college,  and  on  leaving  it,  was 
well  qualified  to  enter  successfully  upon  the  study  of  law. 
He  immediately  came  to  Maine,  and  became  a  student  in 
the  office  of  Judge  Bridge  at  Augusta.  While  pursuing  his 
studies,  he  amused  himself  by  writing  for  the  newspapers. 
His  articles  were  principally  of  a  political  character ;  and, 
being  a  warm  Federalist,  he  often  bore  severely  upon  the 
merits  of  the  candidates  on  the  other  side,  for  office.  In 
1802,  he  wrote  some  personal  strictures  against  Dr.  Martin 
Kinsley,  who  had  been  named  as  a  candidate  for  Congress 
in  the  Eastern  District,  at  which  the  doctor  took  offense,  and 
came  to  Augusta  to  seek  satisfaction.  When  he  ascertained 
who  the  author  of  the  offensive  article  was,  —  only  a  student 
at  law, — he  disclaimed,  as  he  said,  to  have  anything  to  do 
"  with  the  insignificant  young  l)uppy."  At  this,  McLellan 
came  out  with  a  card  over  his  own  signature,  posting  Kins- 
ley as  a  poltroon  and  a  coward,  who  came  all  the  way  from 
Penobscot  to  the  Kennebec  to  fight  a  duel,  and  when  he  got 
there,  did  not  dare  to  do  it. 

After  being  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1802,  Mr.  McLellan 
proceeded  to  Canaan,  on  the  Kennebec  River.  This  was  a 
large  town, in  territory,  lying  around  iSkowhegan  Falls,  incor- 
porated in  1788,  and  embracing  what  is  now  included  in 


434  JUDAH   MCLELLAN. 

the  three  towns  of  Canaan,  Bloomficld,  and  Skowhegan. 
Bloomfield  was  separated  in  1814,  and  Skowhegan  in  1823. 
It  was  in  the  latter  named  town  that  Mr.  McLellan  fixed  his 
residence  as  the  first  lawyer,  and  where  he  has  continued  to 
live  through  the  sixty  intervening  years. 

Mr.  McLellan  devoted  himself  to  his  business,  and  soon 
ac(iuired  an  extensive  and  lucrative  practice.  He  connected 
"with  his  professional  duties  the  management  of  a  farm, 
which  ^rew  in  size  and  value  by  his  skillful  and  intelligent 
care,  so  that  he  justly  had  the  reputation  of  being  at  the 
same  time  a  sound  lawyer,  a  safe  counsellor  and  advocate, 
and  a  thriving,  practical  farmer.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
decision  of  character :  he  watched  carefully  the  genuine 
improvements  in  agriculture,  which  he  not  only  reduced  to 
practice,  but  extended  by  lectures  in  the  lyceum  and  before 
agricultural  societies,  and  in  earnest  and  enlightened  efforts 
to  introduce  valuable  breeds  of  cattle  and  sheep,  improved 
tools  and  modes  of  cultivation.  For  a  period  of  fifty  years, 
he  occupied  in  his  town  and  county  a  prominent  position  as 
a  lawyer,  an  intelligent  farmer,  and  an  enlightened  and  patri- 
otic citizen.  And  after  half  a  century  of  steady  devotion 
to  the  duties  of  life,  he  retired  from  the  toils  and  cares  of 
business,  at  the  age  of  about  seventy-five,  to  the  enjoyment 
of  the  ease  of  which  a  competency,  the  fruit  of  his  own  ex- 
ertions, afforded  him  the  means. 

During  this  period,  he  was  ten  years  or  more  one  of  the 
directors  of  the  Skowhegan  Bank,  and  several  years,  from 
1820,  county  attorney  for  Somerset.  In  1811,  on  the  forma- 
tion of  the  new  court,  he  was  offered  a  seat  on  the  bench 
of  the  Circuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  Second  East- 
ern District;  but  he  declined  accepting  the  position,  prefer- 
ring the  quiet  pursuits  of  his  home  to  the  responsibilities  of 
office,  and  influenced,  too,  in  a  measure,  by  a  sense  of  deli- 
cacy in  regard  to  his  political  opinions.     In  1815,  he  repre- 


JUDAH  M^LELLAN:  NATHAN  CUTLER.         435 

sented  his  town  in  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts :  with 
these  exceptions,  he  abstained  from  political  and  public  life, 
for  which  he  was  well  qualified  by  the  integrity  and  firmness 
of  his  character,  and  his  general  intelligence.  In  fact,  after 
the  breaking  up  of  the  old  Federal  party,  to  which  he  was 
sincerely  attached,  he  found  no  place  where  he  could  fix  his 
unsettled  opinions,  and  he  became  quite  disgusted  with  the 
whole  game  of  politics  :  it  is  said  that  for  the  ten  years  after 
retiring  from  business,  he  cast  but  one  vote  for  governor, — 
that  was  for  Dr.  Ezekiel  Holmes,  the  anti-slavery  candidate. 
Soon  after  he  found  himself  established  in  his  business  at 
Canaan,  to  complete  the  arrangements  for  his  future  life,  he 
formed  a  matrimonial  connection  with  Elizabeth  White,  the 
daughter  of  Samuel  White,  a  worthy  farmer  of  the  place. 
She  was  well  educated,  accomplished,  and  handsome,  and 
became  the  happy  mother  of  an  excellent  and  useful  family. 
One  son,.  Samuel,  graduated  at  Waterville  College,  and  is 
settled  as  a  lawyer  in  Dexter:  several  other  sons  are  mer- 
chants, some  doing  business  in  New  York  ;  one  daughter 
married  Abraham  Sanborn,  Esq.,  a  lawyer  in  Bangor,  and 
is  dead.  Mr.  McLcllan  is  still  living,  past  eighty-three,  but 
is  entirely  prostrated  in  health  and  intellect,  tlie  wreck  of 
the  once  active  and  vigorous  laborer  in  numerous  fields  of 
industry. 

NATHAN     CUTLER.      1803—1861. 

A  contemporary  of  Henry  V.  Chamberlain  at  Farming- 
ton, —  whom  we  have  before  described,  —  was  Nathan  Cut- 
ler, who  seated  himself  beside  his  competitor  in  1803.  Mr. 
Cutler  was  descended  from  James  Cutler,  one  of  the  early 
settlers  of  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  whom  we  find  there 
as  early  as  1635,  but  who  moved  to  Lexington  about  1648. 
His  father,  Joseph  Cutler,  was  born  in  Lexington,  in  1733  : 


436  NATHAN   CUTLER. 

in  1755,  he  married  Rebecca  Hoar  ;  who  dying,  in  1758,  he 
married,  in  1750,  Mary  Head,  who  was  the  mother  of  the 
subject  of  this  sketch. 

Mr.  Cutler  was  born  in  Lexington,  May  29,  1775.  His 
father  was  a  farmer,  in  very  moderate  circumstances :  the 
country,  at  the  time  of  his  birth,  was  just  entering  the  seven 
years'  war  of  the  Revolution,  in  which  the  first  blood  was 
shed  in  his  native  town,  less  than  a  month  before  he  came 
into  this  breathing  world.  His  father  could  do  little  for  the 
education  of  his  children,  and  was  unwilling  that  they 
should  be  at  the  expense  of  acquiring  more  than  was  neces- 
sary to  make  good  farmers.  He  offered  Nathan  a  small 
farm,  but  his  mind  was  bent  on  a  profession ;  and  he  suc- 
ceeded in  spending  some  time  at  Leicester  Academy,  where 
he  fitted  for  college,  and  then  passed  to  Dartmouth.  Here 
he  employed  his  time  diligently ;  and  took  his  degree  in 
1798,  in  the  same  class  with  Benjamin  Orr,  afterwards  the 
distinguished  counsellor  in  Maine.  Mr.  Cutler  had  to  make 
his  own  way,  receiving  but  little  aid  from  his  father —  alter- 
nately working  and  keeping  school ;  and  by  the  exercise  of 
a  rigid  economy,  with  good  courage  and  cheerful  hope,  he 
was  carried  forward. 

After  leaving  college,  he  took  charge  of  the  academy  in 
Middlebury,  Vermont,  —  which  has  since  grown  into  a  col- 
lege,—  and  at  the  same  time,  pursued  the  study  of  law  in 
the  office  of  Judge  Ciiipman  of  that  place.  He  completed 
his  studies  in  Worcester,  Massachusetts,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  Worcester  County,  in  1801.  He  opened  an 
office,  first  in  Lexington ;  but  being  attracted  by  accounts 
of  the  rising  prospects  of  Maine,  he  came  to  see  if  it 
afforded  any  opening  for  him.  He  visited  New  Gloucester, 
then  a  flourishing  village,  where  Judge  Whitman  was  tlien 
practicing,  who  advised  him  to  go  to  Farmington.  He 
adopted  the  suggestion,  established  himself  there  in  1803, 


NATHAN   CUTLER.  I  437 

and  it  ever  after  was  his  place  of  residence.  In  speaking  of 
this  occurrence,  his  son-in-law  lately  observed  to  me,  that, 
"  his  esteem  and  respect  for  Judge  Whitman  were  life-long 
and  unqualified." 

Mr.  Cutler  immediately  entered  upon  a  good  business,  for 
which  he  exhibited  the  necessary  and  reliable  qualities.  He 
entered  into  the  improvements  of  the  village  which  became 
his  abode,  and  exercised  his  taste  and  means  in  making  it 
the  beautiful  and  desirable  resort  of  a  cultivated  society. 
In  1807,  he  was  instrumental  in  procuring  a  charter  for  an 
academy  in  that  town ;  and  was  one  of  the  trustees  and 
secretary  of  the  Board.  He  continued  a  trustee  during  his 
life,.and  was  the  president  at  the  time  of  his  death. 

In  1811,  he  was  appointed  a  trustee  of  the  ministerial  and 
school  fund,  and  the  treasurer :  the  three  following  years, 
he  was  the  treasurer  of  the  town.  He  represented  the  town 
in  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts,  in  1809,  1810,  1811, 
and  1819  :  in  the  latter  year,  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  con- 
vention which  formed  the  constitution  of  the  State,  and  was 
one  of  the  committee  on  "  the  style  and  title  "  of  the  new 
State.  In  1812,  the  appointment  of  judge  of  the  Circuit 
Court.of  Common  Pleas,  for  the  Second  Eastern  Circuit,  was 
tendered  to  him,  which  he  declined.  He  was  a  member  of 
the  senate  of  Maine,  in  1828  and  1829,  from  Kennebec 
County :  in  the  latter  year  he  was  president  of  that  body, 
by  virtue  of  which  ofhce,  he  became  acting  governor  of  the 
State  for  the  unexpired  term  of  Governor  Lincoln,  who  died 
October  8,  1829.  In  1832,  he  was  one  of  the  electors  at 
large  for  President  and  Vice-President,  when  Maine  threw 
her  ten  electoral  votes  for  Andrew  Jackson  for  President, 
and  Martin  Van  Buren  for  Vice-President.  The  last  public 
office  held  by  Mr.  Cutler,  was  as  the  representative  of  his 
town  in  1844. 

These  various  stations  of  responsibility  and  trust,  show 


438        NATHAN  CUTLER:  JOSEPH  BARTLETT. 

the  confidence  which  his  fellow-citizens  entertained  of  his 
capacity  and  integrity.  An  obituary  notice  written  by  his 
pastor,  says, "  Few  have  done  more  than  lie,  in  the  last  half 
century,  to  mold  the  character  and  advance  the  interests  of 
the  community  in  wliich  he  lived." 

In  September,  1804,  he  married  Hannah  Moore  of  Wes- 
ton, Massachusetts :  she  became  the  mother  of  his  nine 
children,  —  seven  sons  a)id  two  daughters, —  and  died  in 
1835.  Three  sons  and  the  two  daughters  survived  him. 
His  eldest  son,  Reuben,  occupies  the  paternal  mansion  in 
Farmington,  and  is  a  respectable  merchant  of  that  place : 
another  son,  John  L.,  a  graduate  of  Bowdoin  in  the  class  of 
1887,  is  a  lawyer  in  Augusta:  the  other  is  a  clergyman. 
Robert  Goodenow,  a  respected  lawyer  of  Farmington,  mar- 
ried one  of  the  daughters. 

Mr.  Cutler  died  June  8,  1861,  under  the  burden  of 
eighty-six  years,  which  he  carried  with  meekness  and  with 
honor.  He  was  a  diligent  student,  a  well-read  and  good 
lawyer,  but  not  at  all  distinguished  as  an  advocate.  He 
generally  presented  his  cases  to  the  jury  so  as  to  secure 
their  attention  ;  but  he  was  diffident,  and  dry  in  his  man- 
ner. In  special  pleading,  he  was  a  proficient,  having  few 
superiors  at  the  bar.  He  was  faithful  to  his  clients,  honest 
and  honorable  in  his  dealings,  a  conscientious  and  religious 
man.  He  was  successful  in  his  profession,  because  he  de- 
voted himself  to  it ;  and  he  had  the  confidence  of  those  who 
employed  him,  and  of  the  whole  community.  He  retired 
from  its  active  duties  in  1835  ;  but  his  counsel  was  sought 
to  his  last  days,  by  those  who  respected  his  judgment  and 
experience. 

JOSEPH     BARTLETT.      180  3  —  1810. 

Joseph  Bartlett  was  one  of  the  eccentric  men  and  wits  of 
tlie  bar.   He  was  a  native  of  Plymouth,  in  Plymouth  County, 


JOSEPH    BARTLETT.  439 

Massachusetts,  and  was  born  June  10, 1762.  He  graduated 
at  Harvard  College  in  1782,  in  honorable  standing  :  his  schol- 
arship entitled  him  to  membership  in  the  highest  literary 
society  of  the  college,  —  the  Phi-Beta-Kappa.  He  pursued 
the  study  of  law  at  Salem  for  a  while  ;  but  soon  after  the 
ratification  of  the  treaty  of  peace  with  England,  he  went  to 
that  country,  where  he  led,  for  some  time,  a  wild,  irregular 
life,  to  which  he  was  introduced  by  a  set  of  companions,  gay 
like  himself,  to  whom  his  wit  and  reckless  manners  made 
him  acceptable.  He  was  one  evening  attending,  at  the  the- 
ater, the  representation  of  a  play  written  by  Gen.  Burgoyne, 
in  ridicule  of  the  Americans,  when  he  rose  in  the  pit  and  ex- 
claimed "  Hurrah  !  Great  Britain  beaten  by  a  nation  of  bar- 
bers, tailors,  and  tinkers  !"  The  effect  was  electric :  the 
bold  sally  pleased  the  house  prodigiously,  and  gained  him 
applause  and  new  acquaintances  among  the  wags  of  the 
metropolis.  He  passed  his  time  in  London  in  gambling  and 
dissipation,  in  which  he  spent  all  his  money  and  got  in  debt, 
for  which  he  was  sent  to  prison.  Here  he  turned  his  wits 
to  some  account.  He  wrote  a  play  to  procure  his  release, 
and  went  himself  upon  the  stage  as  one  of  the  actors  in  it. 
After  this  incident,  he  procured,  upon  credit,  a  cargo  of 
merchandise,  and  set  sail  for  America,  with  a  view  to  engage 
in  commercial  business.  But  the  vessel  which  took  him  and 
his  cargo  was  wrecked  on  Cape  Cod.  He  had  freely  avowed 
infidel  opinions  on  the  voyage,  and,  when  he  was  in  the  peril 
of  shipwreck,  and  was  laughed  at  for  his  cowardice,  he  par- 
ried it  off  by  saying  that  he  was  not  afraid  to  die,  but 
could  not  bear  to  be  found  dead  in  such  a  dreary  place  as 
Cape  Cod. 

Being  cast  upon  the  world  again,  without  means  of  sup- 
port, he  joined  the  forces  raised  by  Massachusetts  to  put 
down  Shays's  rebellion,  and  was  appointed  a  captain  of  vol- 
unteers.    After  the  war  was  over,  he  returned  to  the  law, 


440  JOSEPH   BARTLETT. 

and  commenced  practice  at  Woburn,  Massachusetts,  from 
which  place  he  moved  to  Cambridge  in  1796  or  '97.  Here 
lie  entered  zealously  into  the  affairs  of  the  town  and  college, 
and  in  1799  he  delivered  a  poem  before  the  Phi-Beta-Kappa 
Society,  on  physiognomy,  which  contained  many  personal 
allusions,  and  was  satirical  and  witty.  While  he  was  resid- 
ing in  Cambridge,  he  was  employed  to  argue  a  case  which 
arose  on  a  quarrel  between  a  mother  and  her  son,  at  Ply- 
mouth. It  was  tried  before  referees,  and  Bartlett  made  a 
serio-comic  argument  which  cut  both  ways.  He  commented 
on  the  sadness  of  such  a  quarrel  between  a  parent  and  child, 
and  said  it  was  a  shame  sucli  a  thing  should  occur  "  here  in 
the  old  town  of  Plymouth,  under  the  shadow  of  the  hill  on 
which  were  the  graves  of  the  forefathers,  and  on  which  I 
have,  myself,  often  picked  huckleberries." 

In  1803,  he  came  to  Saco.  Cyrus  King  was  then  the  only 
lawyer  there,  and  Prentiss  Mellon  the  only  one  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  at  Biddeford,  who  were  able  and  popular 
competitors.  But  Mr.  Bartlett,  by  his  long  experience,  his 
readiness  as  an  advocate,  and  his  facetious  and  agreeable 
manners,  became  very  popular,  and  for  awhile  had  a  great 
run  of  business.  He  took  the  popular  side  in  politics,  was 
an  ardent  Democrat  and  demagogue,  as  he  had  before  been 
a  Federalist.  By  his  eloquence  and  his  arts,  he  succeeded 
in  getting  elected  to  the  Senate  in  Massachusetts  in  1805  ; 
and  afterwards,  by  his  ambition  to  become  a  leader  of  the 
party,  involved  himself  in  a  quarrel  with  other  persons  who 
had  been  accustomed  to  manage  the  party  tactics  of  the 
county,  as  Dr.  Thornton  and  Richard  Cutts.  He  undertook 
to  set  up  Daniel  Cleaves,  as  a  candidate  for  Congress  in 
opposition  to  Richard  Cutts,  who  was  first  elected  from  that 
district  in  1800,  and  held  the  office  by  six  successive  elec- 
tions, through  the  administration  of  Mr.  Jefferson  and  part 
of  that  of  Mr.  Madison. 


JOSEPH    BARTLETT.  441 

Of  course  this  power,  supported  by  great  wealth  and  in- 
fluence at  liome  and  abroad,  was  too  firmly  established  to 
be  moved  by  a  new  man,  and  a  fresh  aspirant  for  place,  who 
had  none  of  the  auxiliaries  which  surrounded  his  more  for- 
tunate opponents.  Tlie  party,  however,  was  distracted  by 
his  efforts  and  intrigues,  and  consequently  he  became  the 
ol)ject  of  very  severe  animadversion.  The  Portland  Argus, 
the  leading  democratic  organ  of  the  .State,  opened  its  galling 
fire  upon  him,  and  his  influence  and  business  were  pretty 
thorouglily  cut  up.  The  abuse  in  this  paper  was  so  personal, 
that  Bartlett  commenced  an  action  of  libel  against  the  pro- 
prietor, and  recovered  judgment  against  him  for  one  thou- 
sand five  hundred  dollars  damages,  four  hundred  eighty- 
seven  dollars  and  ninety-five  cents  costs  ;  which,  refusing  to 
j)ay,  he  was  committed  to  jail,  having  only  the  narrow  limits 
of  the  yard,  under  a  bond  of  nearly  four  thousand  dollars. 
From  this  place  of  almost  close  confinement,  so  rigid  were 
the  laws  then  relating  to  debtors,  the  debtor  sent  forth  his 
weekly  missiles,  until,  unfortunately,  on  one  unlucky  winter 
night,  he  went  from  the  jailor's  house  to  the  pump  outside 
of  the  ])icket  fence  which  surrounded  the  jail,  to  get  some 
water,  the  pump  inside  tiie  fence  being  frozen.  The  credi- 
tor, who  had  kept,  by  his  employes,  a  constant  watch  over 
his  prisoner,  improved  the  occasion,  and  brought  an  action 
for  the  penalty  of  the  bond,  against  the  debtor  and  his  sure- 
ties, who  were  very  responsible  men  in  Portland.  The  whole 
affiiir  was  brought  into  the  arena  of  politics,  and  mingled  in 
the  stirring  excitements  of  the  day.  Tliis  action,  therefore, 
added  to  the  fire :  it  Avas  contested  at  every  step,  and  when 
a  verdict  was  rendered  in  favor  of  the  plaintifi*,  on  the  bond, 
a  new  trial  was  moved,  and  the  (lucstions  of  law,  raised  in 
the  case,  were  argued  in  IJoston  witii  great  ability  by  :Sam- 
uel  Dexter  and  Solicitor  General  Davis  for  the  plaintiff',  and 
Attorney  General  Bidwell  and  Joseph  Story,  then  leading 

29 


442  JOSEPH   BARTLETT. 

Democrats,  for  the  dolendaiits.  The  principal  point  in  the 
case  made  by  the  defendants  was  that  the  pump  to  which 
the  debtor  went,  was  not  out  of  the  limits  of  the  jail  yard. 
A  distinction  was  made  by  the  plaintiff  in  regard  to  the 
time  of  going  to  the  pump ;  the  condition  of  the  bond  being 
that  the  debtor  should  have  the  liberty  of  the  yard  in  the 
daij-time.  Chief  Justice  Parsons  delivered  a  long  and 
learned  opinion  in  favor  of  the  plaintiff,  at  the  July  term  of 
the  court,  1807,  in  Cumberland,  adjudging  the  bond  to  have 
been  broken,  and  giving  judgment  for  the  whole  penalty. 
So  severe  was  then  the  law  of  creditor  and  debtor,  that, 
even  under  a  heavy  bond,  the  debtor  could  not  leave  the 
narrow  limits  of  the  yard  connected  with  the  jail,  without  a 
forfeiture. 

But  the  proceeding,  although  it  put  money  in  his  pocket, 
had  the  effect  to  destroy  the  business  of  Mr.  Bartlett  in 
Saco  ;  and  he  moved  immediately  after  to  Berwick,  and  in 
1809  or  '10,  he  left  the  State  and  became  a  wanderer:  we 
find  him  sometimes  in  Portsmouth  and  then  in  Boston,  but 
without  clients  and  without  business,  subsisting  by  expedi- 
ents and  by  desultory  literary  efforts.  It  was  in  these  lat- 
ter days,  when  he  had  lost  all  his  clients,  that  he  brought  a 
low  and  trifling  action  for  a  negro  named  Ca&sar,  and  being 
asked  by  some  one  how  he  came  to  take  up  such  a  suit  as 
that,  he  replied  that  he  had  not  seen  a  client  for  a  month, — 
he  couldn't  help  it;  it  was  "  aid  Cccsar  ant  nn/lus.'" 

After  drifting  about  in  various  places,  he  finally  went  to 
Boston,  his  last  station,  and  there  continued  his  literary 
efforts.  July  4,  1823,  he  delivered  an  oration  in  the  hall  of 
the  Exchange  Coffee-house,  and  on  the  same  occasion  recit- 
ed an  ode,  styled  the  "New  Vicar  of  Bray,"  which  attract- 
ed considerable  attention :  for  the  following  extracts  from 
which,  we  are  indebted  to  Mr.  Loring's  "  Hundred  Boston 
Orators:" 


JOSEPH   BARTLETT.  443 

"  We  now  see  much  upon  the  earth, 

Especially  in  Boston, 
Wliicli  gives  to  man  a  vigorous  birth, 

And  keeps  our  souls  in  motion. 
Boston  a  city  now  is  made, 

Our  officers  elected; 
'Tis  best  for  eveiy  class  and  trade, 

Our  mayor  will  be  respected. 
Our  Quincy  now,  by  all  admired, 

The  city's  pride  and  glory ; 
May  he  the  difference  never  know, 

'Twixt  Federalist  and  Tory." 

The  same  year,  1823,  Mr.  Bartlett  published  an  edition  of 
his  poems,  dedicated  to  John  Quincy  Adams,  to  which  he 
added  "  Aphorisms  on  Men,  Principles,  and  Things,"  the 
result  of  his  various  experience. 

While  he  resided  in  Saco,  he  edited  a  paper  called  "  The 
Freeman's  Friend,"  in  1805,  and  July  4th  of  that  year,  he 
delivered  an  oration  at  Biddeford.  He  wrote  with  ease,  and 
his  communications  for  the  papers  and  his  desultory  efforts 
were  numerous.  As  an  advocate,  when  he  gave  his  atten- 
tion to  business,  he  was  fluent,  and  at  times  eloquent,  but 
very  unecjual  and  often  whimsical :  he  could  not  be  relied 
upon  ;  and  his  skill  as  a  lawyer  was  quite  insignificant, — 
he  had  not  industry  nor  steadiness  of  purpose  sufficient  to 
accomplisli  any  important  object,  or  to  obtain  any  valuable 
reputation.  In  his  last  days,  he  had  become  a  burden  to  his 
friends  and  acquaintances,  and  closed  his  irregular  and  use- 
less life  at  Boston,  October  27,  1827,  at  the  age  of  sixty-five 
He  wrote  the  following  epitaph  upon  himself: 

"  'Tis  done!  the  fatal  stroke  i.s  given,  • 

And  Bartlett's  fled  to  hell  or  heaven  ; 
His  friends  approve  it,  and  his  foes  applaud, 
Yet  he  will  have  the  verdict  of  his  God." 


444  JOSEPH  BAETLETT. 

When  attending  the  funeral  of  John  Hale,  a  worthy  cit- 
izen of  Portsmouth,  he  imjjrovised  the  following  epitaph  : 

"  Goil  takes  tlie  good, 

Too  good  by  far  to  stay, 
And  leaves  tlie  bad, 

Too  bad  to  take  away." 

Mr.  Bartlett  was  profuse  and  prodigal  in  his  expenses, 
when  he  had  money,  and  never  halted  in  his  reckless  career, 
as  long  as  he  could  obtain  means  by  borrowing  or  other 
expedients,  to  indulge  his  extravagant  habits  ;  and  he  never 
paid  debts  when  he  could  avoid  it.  The  large  amount  he 
received  on  his  verdict  against  tlie  proprietor  of  the  Argus, 
was  soon  squandered  in  improvidence  and  dissipation,  and 
some,  at  least,  of  those  who  assisted  in  the  prosecution,  failed 
of  getting  their  fees.  Yet,  with  all  his  faults,  and  he  had 
an  unusual  share,  he  was  an  agreeable  and  pleasant  compan- 
ion :  his  wit  and  vivacity,  and  his  general  information,  made 
his  presence  welcome  at  the  social  meetings  of  the  bar, 
until  he  had  become  too  degraded  to  regard  the  decencies  of 
respectable  company. 

Mr.  Bartlett  married,  in  early  life,  Ann  Witherell  of 
Kingston,  Massachusetts,  a  beautiful  girl,  daughter  of  the 
tavern  keeper  in  tliat  place,  but  left  no  children.  He  died 
Tinlamented,  as  he  had  lived  unhonored. 


f^^^^c^^^'C^^t^y  -L  ^-Oc-  a^t^t^x^ 


AT   THE   AGE   OF  77. 

FROM  A  BUST  BY    PAUL  AKERS 


CHAPTER    XVIII. 


REUEL  WILLIAMS — THOMAS   BOND — TIMOTHY  BOUTELLE — WOOD- 
BURY  STORER  —  ELISHA    P.    CUTLER  —  FREDERIC   ALLEN  — 
WILLIAM   B.  SEWALL — SAMUEL   HUBBARD — BENJAMIN 
AMES  —  NATHAN  WESTON — WM.  D.  WILLIAMSON. 


REUEL     WILLIAMS.       1803  —  1862. 

The  lawyer  who  is  now  to  engage  our  attention,  was  so 
totally  diftcrent  from  the  one  with  whom  our  last  chapter 
closed,  that  they  scarcely  seem  to  Ijclong  to  the  same  epoch 
of  time,  or  the  same  profession.  The  life  of  one  was  a  wild 
and  reckless  vagary  ;  that  of  the  other  was  filled  with 
devoted  industry  and  eminently  practical  results  —  the  lights- 
and  shadows  of  life. 

Mr.  Williams  was  one  of  the  most  successful  men  who 
have  risen  in  Maine.  He  was  a  native  of  the  State,  born  in 
Augusta  in  June,  1783,  and  from  the  most  humble  origin. 
By  the  inherent  force  of  his  character,  he  overcame  all  dis- 
advantages, and  rose  to  the  highest  stations  in  the  forum 
and  the  State.  Who  his  first  American  ancestor  was,  and 
when  he  first  came  to  this  country,  we  have  not  been  able  to 
ascertain.  lie  prol)ably  descended  from  Kicliard  of  Taun- 
ton, whose  son  Benjamin  married  there  in  1090.     The  Wil- 


446  REUEL  WILLIAMS. 

liams  name  is  very  numerous  and  extensive.  It  is  supposed 
to  be  of  Welsh  origin.  Roger,  the  earliest  champion  of  the 
rights  of  conscience,  and  founder  of  Rhode  Island,  was 
from  Wales.  To  the  year  1825,  Parmer,  the  distinguished 
antiquary,  says,  "  One  hundred  and  forty-seven  of  the  name 
of  Williams  had  graduated  at  the  colleges  in  New  England, 
New  Jersey,  and  Union  in  New  York."  By  the  last  cat- 
alogue of  Harvard,  eighty-six  of  the  name  were  borne  upon 
it,  being  larger  than  that  of  any  other. 

Seth  Williams,  father  of  Reuel,  was  born  in  Easton,  Plym- 
outh County,  Massachusetts,  to  which  place  the  family  moved 
from  Taunton.  His  father  united  tlie  trades  of  tanner  and 
shoemaker.  When  the  expedition  was  fitted  out  from  New 
England,  1779,  to  retake  Castinc,  which  the  British  had  seized 
and  fortified,  commonly  called  the  Bagaduce  expedition,  he, 
with  a  brother,  enlisted  in  the  army,  and  proceeded  to  that 
place.  The  disastrous  and  disgraceful  defeat  of  our  forces 
in  August  of  that  year,  sent  our  dispirited  men  homeward, 
with  loss  of  all  their  supplies  as  well  as  their  reputation. 
They  landed  on  the  west  shore  of  Penobscot  Bay,  and  pur- 
sued their  way  through  the  wilderness  and  tangled  forests 
which  then  covered  the  country.  The  march  was  long  and 
tedious,  and  the  sufferings  of  the  men  intense  :  many  died 
from  hunger  and  fatigue.  Seth  Williams,  with  his  brother, 
reached  Fort  Western  in  August  or  September  of  1779  ;  and, 
finding  persons  there  who  came  from  the  neighborhood  of 
his  own  home,  and  pleased  with  the  situation,  he  concluded 
to  remain  and  try  his  fortunes  there. 

lie  established  himself  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  river, 
commenced  his  two  trades,  tanning  in  summer,  shoemaking 
in  winter,  and  found  his  prospects  sufficiently  encouraging 
to  induce  him,  by  a  marriage  alliance,  to  lay  the  foundation 
of  a  family,  which  was  destined  to  confer  lienor  and  benefit 
on  the  town  and  the  State  he  had  adopted,      in  the  winter 


REUEL   WILLIAMS.  447 

of  1780,  he  married  Miss  Zilpha  Ingraham  of  Augusta,  by 
whom  he  had  eleven  children,  six  sons  and  five  daughters. 
Hartwell,  the  eldest,  was  born  November  15,  1781.  Tbe 
father  died  in  1817,  at  the  age  of  sixty-one.  Reuel,  the  second 
son,  was  born  June  2, 1783.  At  that  time,  the  town  formed 
part  of  Hallowell,  and  was  called  Fort  Western,  the  Indian 
name  was  Cushnoc,  and  had  a  very  small  population.  In  1790, 
when  the  first  United  States  census  was  taken,  the  whole 
territory  embracing  Hallowell  and  Augusta  contained  but 
one  thousand  one  lumdred  and  ninety-four  inhabitants,  the 
majority  of  whom  were  within  the  limits  of  that  part  which 
was  Hallowell,  but  now  divided  into  several  other  towns^ 
Augusta  was  incorporated  in  1797,  and  in  1800  its  popula- 
tion was  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  eleven. 

Seth  Williams  was  able  to  give  his  children  only  such 
education  as  the  common  schools  afforded,  and  as  they 
became  old  enough,  they  assisted  their  father  in  his  occupa- 
tion. The  year  1797  was  a  great  occasion  for  Augusta  ;  it 
was  then  incorporated,  and  the  bridge  across  the  Kennebec 
River  was  completed  —  the  first  which  was  erected  over  that 
river.  It  was  finished  in  the  autumn,  and  as  but  a  short 
time  remained  before  the  river  would  be  frozen  over,  which 
afforded  a  natural  bridge  for  the  people,  they  looked  for 
some  person  to  gather  the  toll  without  much  expense :  a 
smart  boy,  fourteen  years  old,  offered  and  was  employed, 
and  here  Reuel  Williams  begun  his  public  life.  He  attended 
to  this  duty  diligently  and  faithfully,  and  it  was  a  hard  serv- 
ice, for  the  weather  was  cold,  often  stormy,  and  no  toll- 
house had  as  yet  been  provided.  But  he  contrived  by 
threshing  his  hands,  and  stirring  about,  to  keep  warm.  A 
distinguished  man,  whose  office  stood  near  by  the  bridge, 
had  watched  the  faithful  boy,  and  when  it  was  cold  and 
stormy,  he  gave  him  shelter  in  liis  office.     No  man  loved  to 


448  REUEL   WILLIAMS.       ' 

sec  faitlifulness  and  diligence  more  than  Judge  James 
Bridge,  and  he  was  attracted  to  young  Williams  by  tlieso 
qualities,  and  more  so,  when  he  saw  his  (|uickness  and  gen- 
eral intelligence.  He  took  these  opportunities  to  talk  with 
him  about  his  studies,  recommended  reading  for  him,  and 
advised  him  to  go  to  the  academy  in  Hallowell  to  improve 
his  mind.  These  lessons  fell  like  good  seed,  and  being 
pressed  upon  his  fatlier,  he  concluded  to  send  him  to  the 
academy.  This  was  a  happy  day  for  this  hopeful  youth,  and 
the  year  spent  at  that  institution  and  profitaVily  improved, 
bore  ample  fruits  in  after  life. 

The  good  work  which  Judge  Bridge  had  thus  begun,  he 
continued,  by  receiving  young  Williams  into  his  office,  as  a 
student,  at  the  age  of  fifteen  years,  A  better  school  of 
instruction  for  practical  life  could  not  be  found  in  Maine. 
Judge  Bridge  was  both  a  scholar  and  a  lawyer.  The  prin- 
ciples of  the  science,  he  had  from  his  law  teacher,  the  wise 
and  profound  Parsons,  who  was  as  good  a  disciplinarian  as 
he  was  scholar.  Mr.  Bridge  was  doing  a  very  extensive  busi- 
ness, the  only  lawyer  in  Augusta,  dealing  largely  in  ques- 
tions and  facts  relating  to  landed  property  and  the  laws  ap- 
plicable to  real  estate.  Mr.  Williams  had  therefore  the  great 
privilege  of  enforcing  upon  his  mind  the  principles  of  this 
large  and  profitable  department  of  legal  practice,  by  its 
minute  details.  At  the  end  of  the  five  years  devoted  to 
these  preliminary  studies,  he  came  to  the  bar  in  1802,  fully 
equipped  for  the  manly  service  of  life  ;  and  so  useful  had 
he  made  himself  to  Judge  Bridge  that  he  retained  him  as  a 
partner  in  his  business.  What  young  man  had  ever  a  fairer 
start  in  life  than  this?  How  he  improved  it,  the  experience 
of  sixty  years  of  uninterrupted  success,  has  given  ample 
demonstration.  In  less  than  six  years,  the  little  shivering 
toll-gatherer  has  become  a  lawyer  in  full  practice,  havuig 


REUEL   WILLIAMS.  449 

the  confidence  of  the  best  men  al)Out  him  !  and  the  most 
fortunate  adventitious  circumstances  to  aid  the  force  of  his 
own  character. 

The  business  of  the  office  was  pursued  with  great  energy 
and  success  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  Mr.  WiUiams,  after 
eight  or  ten  years,  having  the  chief  burden  of  it ;  for  Judge 
Bridge  was  a  little  nervous,  could  not  l)car  the  court-house, 
disliked  the  office,  and  as  the  affairs  of  it  were  conducted 
with  promptness  and  ability,  he  was  quite  satisfied  to  enjoy 
the  profits,  which  he  did  for  thirty  years,  without  engaging 
much  in  the  labor.  A  contemporary  lawyer  has  informed 
me  that  more  business  was  done  in  that  office  than  any  other 
in  Maine,  especially  in  what  related  to  real  property,  and 
that  Mr.  Williams,  for  a  considerable  period,  filled  more 
writs  than  any  other  lawyer  in  the  State.  He  was  indefat- 
igable ;  up  early  and  down  late  ;  he  gave  himself  no  rest  ; 
he  was  not  only  the  legal  adviser,  but  the  practical  agent  of 
large  absent  real  estate  owners ;  he  was  the  attorney  of  the 
Plymouth  Proprietors,  whose  large  tract  of  land  lay  on  each 
side  of  the  Kennebec  River  for  fifty  miles,  occasioning  numer- 
ous conflicts  with  settlers,  squatters,  adverse  claimants,  and 
retiuiring  constant  labor  in  making  contracts,  sales,  and  in 
various  legal  proceedings.  Those  who  live  in  these  quiet 
times,  when  all  these  proprietary  rights  and  conflicts  are 
settled,  can  form  no  idea  of  the  passion,  the  litigation,  and 
bitter  feeling  which  prevailed  in  that  part  of  the  State  forty 
or  fifty  years  ago. 

Mr.  Williams,  as  a  lawyer,  was  sound  and  quick  of  appre- 
hension :  his  mind  perceived  clearly  the  relations  and  obscu- 
rities of  a  case,  and  he  patiently  evolved  it  from  its  intrica- 
cies. As  an  advocate,  he  was  calm  and  logical :  his  argu- 
ments to  the  court  and  to  the  jury  were  clear  and  concise  : 
he  argued  directly  for  his  cause,  and  came  directly  to  his 
points  without  display  or  circumlocution  ;  and  he  never  lobt 


450  REUEL   WILLIAMS. 

a  case  for  want  of  taking  tlic  proper  strategic  ground.  A 
more  successful  professional  life  we  have  not  to  record 
among  our  brethren  of  the  bar  in  Maine  ;  successful  in  all 
the  results  of  practice, —  reputation,  property,  political  sta- 
tion, and  public  employment  and  confidence,  sufficient  to 
gratify  the  desire  of  the  most  ambitious. 

A  gentleman  who  knew  Mr.  Williams  from  the  commence- 
ment of  his  practice  to  the  close  of  it,  thus  speaks  of  him : 
"  The  judgment  with  which  he  managed  land  agencies  com- 
mitted to  him,  and  the  promptness  with  which  he  settled  his 
accounts  and  paid  over  the  moneys  he  received,  tended  to 
give  him  the  agency  of  the  Plymouth  Company,  and  of 
most  of  the  absentee  proprietors  owning  lands  in  the  Kenne- 
bec Purchase.  His  familiarity  with  the  law  of  real  estate 
caused  him  to  be  employed  in  every  real  action  that  was 
tried  in  this,  Kennebec,  and  the  two  adjoining  counties." 

Mr.  Williams  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  his  profession 
for  twenty  years,  firmly  resisting  all  attempts  to  draw  him 
from  duties  which  were  engrossing  his  whole  attention. 
Indeed,  so  involved  was  he  in  the  multifarious  cares  of  busi- 
ness, that  he  could  not  escape  from  them  without  serious 
inconvenience,  and  even  actual  danger  to  himself  and  his 
client.  In  1822,  he  first  entered  public  life  as  the  represent- 
ative of  Augusta  in  the  Legislature  ;  and  for  the  next  twenty 
years,  he  seems  to  have  been  equally  engrossed  by  public 
business,  as  he  had  for  the  twenty  previous  years  in  his  pri- 
vate affairs.  He  was  re-elected  to  the  House  the  three  fol- 
lowing years,  at  the  end  of  which  he  was  elected  senator 
from  Kennebec  County,  and  re-elected  the  two  following 
years,  making  a  continued  service  of  seven  years  in  the 
Legislature,  from  1822  to  1828  inclusive.  In  1826,  he  was 
chairman  of  the  committee  on  State  Lands,  and  as  such  sub- 
mitted a  clear  and  succinct  report  on  the  North-Eastern 
Boundary  question,  then  beginning  to  assume  an  alarming 


REUEL    WILLIAMS.  451 

importance  both  to  the  State  and  national  administrations. 
In  1828,  an  able  joint  committee  of  tbe  two  houses  was 
appointed  on  this  special  subject,  of  which  he  was  a  mem- 
ber. John  G.  Deane,  tlie  chai;'man  on  the  part  of  the 
House,  drew  a  report,  filling  fifty-six  octavo  pages,  in  which 
he  reviewed,  in  a  masterly  manner,  the  whole  controversy  ; 
coming  to  the  conclusion,  from  liistorical  facts,  the  con- 
figuration of  the  country,  and  the  concessions  of  British 
authorities,  that  the  right  of  tlie  State  to  the  whole  territory 
in  dispute  was  indubitable,  and  could  not  fairly  be  impugned. 
The  document  embraced  a  long  and  able  report  of  Charles 
S.  Daveis,  agent  of  the  State  to  confer  with  the  provincial 
authorities,  and  correspondence  with  official  and  other  per- 
sons.    It  was  a  document  exhaustive  of  the  subject. 

The  political  majority  of  his  county  being  reversed  in 
1829,  he  was  not  re-elected  to  the  Senate  that  year,  but  was 
returned  to  the  House,  and  again  in  1832.  In  1824,  he  had 
taken  the  place  of  Judge  Bridge  as  one  of  the  joint  commit- 
tee of  Massachusetts  and  Maine,  to  make  division  of  the 
public  lands  and  other  public  property  belonging  to  the  two 
States.  The  committee,  of  which  Levi  Lincoln  of  Massa- 
chusetts was  chairman,  made  their  first  report  in  1822  ;  and 
they  made  sjjccial  reports  in  subsequent  years,  until  the 
division  was  completed.  The  first  report  in  which  Mr.  Wil- 
liams took  part  was  made  in  December,  1825.  Tliis  was  an 
office  of  no  little  laljor  and  responsibility,  and  for  which  Mr. 
"Williams  had  peculiar  qualifications. 

In  1831,  he  was  appointed  commissioner  of  Public  Build- 
ings to  complete  the  State  House,  which  had  been  com- 
menced by  William  King,  the  first  commissioner.  As  early 
as  1822,  a  committee  was  appointed  to  visit  different  towns 
in  the  State  for  the  purpose  of  selecting  a  j)lace  the  most 
suitable  for  a  permanent  seat  of  government :  the  commit- 
tee consisted  of  Daniel  Rose  and  Benjamin  Greene.     Tliey 


452  REUEL   WILLIAMS:    CAPITOL    AT    AUGUSTA. 

reported  in  favor  of  Augusta  in  1823.  Nothing  further  was 
done  on  the  subject  until  1827,  when  the  Governor  and 
council  held  a  session  in  Augusta,  and  selected  the  site  on 
which  the  State  House  now  stands,  as  the  location  of  the 
future  Capitol.  In  1828,  William  King  was  appointed 
"  Commissioner  of  Public  Buildings,"  and  authorized  to 
procure  plans  and  estimates  for  the  structure.  Twelve  and 
a  half  townships  of  land  were  appropriated  to  defray  the 
expense.  Charles  Bulfinch  of  Boston  furnished  a  plan  pre- 
cisely like  the  Massachusetts  State  House,  of  which  he  was 
the  architect,  but  of  reduced  size,  to  be  completed  at  an 
estimated  cost  not  exceeding  eighty  thousand  dollars.  The 
models  and  plans  were  adopted,  and  the  work  commenced  in 
1829.  Mr.  Williams,  who  had  been  an  indefatigable  advo- 
cate for  establishing  the  Capitol  at  Augusta,  succeeded  to 
the  unfinished  work,  and  pushed  it  rapidly  to  a  completion  ; 
so  that  the  session  of  the  Legislature  for  the  first  time  occu- 
pied it  in  January,  1832.  So  wild  were  the  original  esti- 
mates, that,  instead  of  eighty  thousand  dollars,  the  cost  of 
the  building,  including  furnishing  and  fencing,  reached  the 
sum  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-nine  thousand  dollars,  while 
the  proceeds  of  land,  nearly  three  hundred  thousand  acres, 
brought  into  the  treasury  but  sixty  thousand,  two  hundred 
and  sixty-six  dollars  and  eighty  cents,  not  half  the  cost  of 
the  work.  This  was  not  an  uncommon  experience:  it 
seems  to  be  the  infirmity  of  architects  to  frame  estimates 
which  become  decoys  to  the  unfortunate  persons  who  under- 
take to  construct  public  or  private  edifices.  If  any  one  has 
has  ever  been  built  within  the  amount  estimated,  it  would 
be  a  pleasure  to  know  it.  This  was  no  fault  of  Mr.  Wil- 
liams, who  pursued  his  part  of  the  task  with  skill  and  pru- 
dence, such  as  he  would  employ  in  his  own  transactions. 
Another  unfortunate  circumstance  in  this  concern  was  the 
hurrying  the  sale  of  the  land.     If  it  had  been  kept  live  or 


REUEL  WILLIAMS.  453 

six  years  longer,  the  sales  would  have  doubled  the  whole 
expenditure  upon  the  public  buildings.  Individuals  reaped 
the  large  profits  at  the  expense  of  the  State. 

In  1853,  Mr.  Williams,  William  P.  Fessenden,  and  Elijah 
L.  Hamlin  were  appointed  by  the  Legislature,  commission- 
ers to  negotiate  with  Massachusetts  for  the  purchase  of  all 
lands  owned  by  her  in  this  State.  In  pursuance  of  this 
commission,  a  contract  was  entered  into,  and  approved  by 
both  governments,  by  which  the  old  commonwealth  released 
to  Maine  all  her  interest  in  lands  belonging  to  her,  lying 
within  this  State,  for  the  sum  of  three  hundred  and  sixty-two 
thousand  five  hundred  dollars.  This  act  met  with  general 
approbation,  as  it  gave  us  entire  control  in  the  regulation 
and  management  of  the  public  domain,  and  settled  questions 
of  partnership  which  often  gave  trouble  in  their  adjustment. 
As  a  pecuniary  arrangement,  the  purchase  may  at  least  be 
considered  a  doubtful  one. 

In  1830,  Mr.  Williams  was  chosen  one  of  the  electors  at 
large  for  President  and  Vice  President,  and  united  with  the 
college  in  casting  the  ten  electoral  votes  of  the  State  for 
Martin  Van  Buren,  President,  and  Richard  M.  Johnson, 
Vice  President,  of  the  United  States.  The  next  year  he 
was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States,  and  took  his 
seat  in  the  Twenty-fifth  Congress  at  the  extra  session  held 
in  September,  1837.  Judge  Shepley  had  resigned  this  seat 
in  183G,  on  being  appointed  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court, 
and  Judge  Dana  had  been  appointed  to  fill  the  vacancy  for 
the  unexpired  terra.  John  Ruggles  was  ihe  colleague  of 
Mr.  Williams  during  the  first  portion  of  his  term,  and  George 
Evans  from  1840.  There  was  a  great  political  change 
throughout  the  country  in  1840,  which  brought  the  Whig 
party  into  power  in  the  National  and  State  governments, 
occasioned  by  unpopular  measures  of  the  administration  in 
regard  to  the  Sub-treasury,  the  National  Bank,  the  Florida 


45-4  REUEL    WILLIAMS:    POLITICAL   MOVEMENTS. 

AVar,  the  Slavery  Question,  the  pecuniary  distresses  of  the 
country,  S:c. 

Mr.  Williams  acted  with  the  Democratic  party  through 
his  whole  period  of  service.  He  had  been  a  Federalist  while 
that  party  had  an  existence  as  a  distinct  organization,  and 
as  a  Whig,  supported  the  election  and  administration  of  John 
Q.  Adams.  The  history  of  this  change  of  sentiment  belongs 
to  the  annals  of  the  time.  In  1821),  Peleg  Spraguc,  who 
had  been  a  Representative  in  Congress  from  the  Kennebec 
District,  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  the  United  States. 
Mr.  Williams  had  been  previously  urged  by  his  Whig  friends 
in  the  Legislature,  to  become  the  candidate  for  Governor  of 
the  State,  as  successor  to  Enoch  Lincoln  ;  but  he  absolutely 
declined,  from  disinclination  for  office,  and  it  was  supposed 
that  he  did  not  wish  to  continue  in  public  life.  But  on  the 
occurrence  of  the  vacancy  in  the  Congressional  District,  he 
was  informally  nominated  in  the  newspaper  at  Augusta  for 
the  vacant  place  :  George  Evans  was  also  nominated  in  the 
same  informal  manner.  They  both,  as  it  was  supposed, 
belonged  to  the  same  party ;  and  no  convention  of  the  peo- 
ple was  called  to  name  or  confirm  a  candidate.  The  elec- 
tion was  appointed  on  very  short  notice,  to  be  held  at  the 
annual  town  meeting  in  March.  At  that  time,  the  travel- 
ing was  very  bad,  the  vote  light,  and  no  choice  was  effected, 
Mr.  Williams  having  a  small  plurality  :  the  Democratic  can- 
didate had  votes  enough  to  defeat  the  election.  A  new  trial 
was  ordered  to  take  place  in  July.  The  canvass  now  became 
very  animated.  The  Augusta  papers,  the  only  ones  printed 
in  the  district,  strenuously  advocated  the  election  of  Mr. 
Williams  ;  but  the  friends  of  Mr.  Evans  called  a  convention, 
which  the  supporters  of  Mr.  Williams  declined  attending, 
and  Mr.  Evans  received  its  unanimous  nomination.  Both 
sides  now  entered  into  one  of  the  most  exciting  electioneer- 
ing campaigns  which  had  taken  place  in  that  district.    There 


REUEL   WILLIAMS.  455 

was  no  other  candidate  in  nomination.  The  vote  was  very 
large  :  Augnsta  gave  nearly  its  whole  ballot,  over  seven  hun- 
dred to  eleven,  for  Mr.  Williams  ;  while  Gardiner,  the  place 
of  Mr.  Evans's  residence,  gave  almost  its  entire  vote  to  him, 
five  hundred  and  ninety-three  to  three.  Hallowell  also 
voted  strongly  for  Mr.  Evans,  and  the  towns  aljove  Augusta 
supported  Mr.  Williams,  and  he  also  received  the  votes  of 
the  Democratic  party.  The  result  was  the  election  of  Mr. 
Evans  by  about  two  hundred  majority.  After  that  defeat, 
Mr.  Williams  joined  the  advocates  of  Gen.  Jackson,  and 
became  the  uniform  supporter  of  his  administration,  and 
laboFcd  earnestly  and  successfully  in  the  ranks  of  the  Dem- 
ocratic party,  of  which  he  became  one  of  the  leaders  in 
Maine. 

Taking  his  seat  in  the  Senate  in  1837,  the  first  year  of 
Mr.  Van  Buren's  administration,  he  gave  his  constant  sup- 
port to  all  its  measures.  In  the  great  revolution  of  parties, 
which  took  place  in  1840,  Maine  joined  the  ranks  of  the 
opposition  to  the  administration  of  Mr.  Van  Buren.  Edward 
Kent  was  elected  Governor,  and  the  Legislature  of  1841, 
having  a  strong  Whig  majority,  passed  a  series  of  resolutions 
on  the  Currency,  a  National  Bank,  the  Independent  Treas- 
ury, and  national  affairs  generally,  severely  condemning  the 
course  of  the  administration.  In  one  of  these,  they  referred 
to  the  published  declaration  of  Mr.  Williams,  "  that  it  is  the 
duty  of  the  elected  to  crrry  into  effect  the  will  of  his  con- 
stituents, if  he  is  instructed  what  that  will  is,  or  else  resign 
his  trust ;  "  and  added,  "  We,  therefore,  hereby  instruct  him 
that  the  foregoing  resolutions  express  the  will  of  his  constit- 
uents." These  resolutions  were  passed  near  the  close  of 
the  session  in  April,  1841,  and  the  February  following,  1842, 
Mr.  Williams  sent  in  his  resignation.  Gov.  Fairfield  was 
elected  to  fill  the  vacancy.  Tiic  Senate  never,  perhaps,  con- 
tained abler  men  than  occupied  the  scats  at  that  time,  and 


456  REUEL   WILLIAMS  :    CONGRESSIONAL  MEASURES. 

graver  questions  had  not  before  engaged  their  attention. 
Tlicrc  were  Webster,  Clay,  Calhoun,  Crittenden,  Berrien, 
Silas  Wright,  Buchanan,  v^oiithard.  Rives  of  Virginia,  Pres- 
ton of  South  Carolina,  Benton.  Among  the  important 
measures  which  were  discussed  in  that  period,  beside  those 
before  alluded  to,  were  the  annexation  of  Texas ;  a  general 
bankrupt  law  ;  abolii<hing  slavery  in  the  District  of  Colum- 
bia ;  the  Cilley  duel ;  the  gag  law,  as  it  was  lamiliarly  called, 
by  which  all  petitions  relating  to  the  al)olition  of  slavery 
were  to  be  laid  on  the  table  without  debate,  which  passed 
the  House  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  to  sixty  ;  repeal  of 
the  sub-treasury,  which  passed  the  Senate  twenty-nine  to 
eighteen,  AVilliams  against  the  repeal,  Evans  for  it ;  the 
Canada  troubles,  growing  out  of  the  burning  of  the  Caro- 
line and  the  arrest  of  McLeod ;  and  the  Xorth-Eastern  Bound- 
ary question,  which  was  adjusted  by  Mr.  Webster  and  Lord 
Ashburton  in  1842,  and  was  the  consummation  of  Mr.  Web- 
ster's diplomacy  as  secretary  of  state,  and  for  which,  alone, 
he  had  retained  office,  when  his  colleagues  of  the  cabinet 
resigned  under  President  Tyler.  Mr.  Williams  occasionally 
took  part  in  debate,  and  when  he  spoke,  it  was  to  the  matter 
in  issue,  and  not  to  the  country ;  and  his  speeches  were 
characterized  by  the  same  terseness,  brevity,  and  force  as 
were  his  arguments  at  the  bar.  He  voted  in  the  Senate 
against  the  ratification  of  the  Ashburton  treaty.  It  was  a 
critical  point :  there  was  a  tremendous  excitement  in  the 
country,  on  apprehension  of  a  war  with  England  on  the 
boundary  question.  A  portion  of  the  delegation  from  Maine, 
supposing  their  constituents  were  opposed  to  the  treaty,  were 
resolved  to  resist  it.  The  commissioners  from  the  State, 
then  in  Washington,  viz.,  Messrs.  Preble,  Kent,  Kavanagh, 
and  John  Otis,  had,  in  a  midnight  session  previous  to  the 
day  when  the  (question  of  ratification  was  to  be  submitted, 
agreed  to  refuse  the  assent  of  Maine  to  its  terms,  and  a  paper 


REUEL   WILLIAMS.  467 

containing  their  refusal  was  actually  drawn  up  by  Gov.  Kent. 
Mr.  Webster,  having  received  a  hint  of  this  action,  procured 
a  conference  of  the  delegation,  in  both  houses,  from  the 
State,  with  the  commissioners,  which,  after  a  long  and  anx- 
ious discussion,  resulted  in  a  revision  l)y  the  commissioners 
of  their  paper,  and  a  reluctant  assent  to  the  ratification  of 
the  treaty.  Mr.  Williams  did  not  attend  the  conference, 
and  when  the  question  of  ratification  came  up  in  executive 
session,  he  voted  against  it.  Mr.  Evans  rendered  very  active 
and  effectual  service  in  favor  of  the  treaty,  as  did  the  other 
Whig  members  from  Maine.  The  delegation  then  consisted 
of  Messrs.  Williams  and  Evans  in  the  Senate,  and  Messrs. 
Elisha  H.  Allen,  David  Bronson,  Nathan  Clifford,  William 
P.  Fessenden,  N.  S.  Littlefield,  Joshua  A.  Lowell,  Alfred 
Marshall,  and  Benjamin  Randall,  in  the  House.  The  grand 
difficulty  with  our  members  was  a  mistaken  notion  that  the 
popular  sentiment  at  home  was  so  hostile  to  the  treaty  that 
it  would  bring  its  supporters  under  severe  condemnation. 

Mr.  Williams's  retirement  from  political  life  only  changed 
the  course  of  his  duty  and  labor.  His  own  large  affairs 
required  much  attention,  and  he  was  soon  called  upon  to 
lend  his  aid  in  various  ways  toward  the  construction  of  the 
railroad  extending  from  Portland  to  Augusta,  with  a  branch 
to  Batli.  The  original  charter  was  granted  in  1836,  but 
nothing  having  been  done  under  it,  it  was  renewed  in  1840, 
at  a  time  when  public  attention  was  directed  to  these  great 
improvements  in  the  means  of  transportation.  The  plan 
was  to  form  a  connection  direct  with  Boston,  by  connecting 
at  Portland  with  the  road  from  that  place  to  Portsmouth. 
The  embarrassments  of  the  country,  and  the  large  amounts 
required  to  move  such  expensive  projects,  delayed  operations 
until  1847,  when  tlic  work  commenced  in  earnest,  Mr.  Wil- 
liams putting  his  shoulder  to  the  wheel  and  his  hands  in  his 
pockets  to  help  forward  the  enterprise.    He  was  made  pres- 

80 


458  REUEL   WILLIAMS. 

ident  of  tlio  corporation  as  successor  to  George  Evans ;  and, 
by  his  influence,  he  obtained  subscriptions  to  the  stock  in 
large  sums  at  Boston,  and  along  the  line  of  the  road :  the 
Portland,  Saco,  and  Portsmouth  corporation  subscribed  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars  to  secure  tlie  connection  witli 
their  road ;  and  gentlemen  in  Boston  subscribed  largely  to 
the  stock.  Mr.  Williams  devoted  himself  with  great  energy 
to  the  accomplishment  of  this  object,  wliich  was  expected  to 
give  increased  wealth  and  importance  to  the  cities  of  Augusta 
and  Bath,  and  promote  tlie  prosperity  of  the  country  through 
which  it  passed.  It  was  opened  from  Bath  to  North  Yar- 
mouth, where  it  met  the  Atlantic  and  St.  Lawrence  Road, 
July  4,  1849,  and  to  Augusta  in  1851,  tlie  whole  length  of 
road  being  seventy-three  miles.  Mr.  Williams  continued  to 
be  its  chief  manager  for  about  twelve  years,  and  although 
he  spent  a  vast  deal  of  labor  and  capital  upon  it,  it  has 
never  been  a  remunerating  investment,  owing  to  competing 
means  of  transportation,  and  the  heavy  cost  of  construc- 
tion. 

Mr.  Williams  was  a  faithful  and  devoted  son  to  the 
town  which  bore  and  nurtured  him.  He  labored  in  sea- 
son and  out  of  season  to  promote  her  prosperity,  and  to 
adorn  and  enrich  her.  The  public  improvements  which 
have  been  made  to  cluster  there,  are  largely  due  to  his  elTorts 
and  influence.  Nor  did  he  withhold  his  ample  means  to 
endow  and  establish  institutions  and  companies  to  advance 
the  moral  and  material  interests  of  the  place.  When  the 
mill-dam  was  laboring  for  the  needed  help,  he  was  the  per- 
son to  be  called  upon  ;  when  the  railroad  wanted  funds,  Mr. 
Williams  had  to  advance  or  procure  them.  In  1884,  a 
resolve  passed  the  Legislature  appropriating  twenty  thou- 
sand dollars  for  the  erection  of  an  asylum  for  tlie  insane, 
provided  a  like  sum  was  contributed  from  individual  sources 
within  a  year.     Two  gentlemen  jn'omptly  responded  to  this 


REUEL   WILLIAMS.  459 

urgent  appeal :  these  ■were  Benjamin  Brown  of  Yassalboro', 
and  Rcucl  Williams  of  Augusta,  who  each  subscribed  ten 
thousand  dollars  to  secure  the  condition.     This  noble  insti- 
tution stands  now  on  the  banks  of  the  Kennebec,  at  or  near 
the  spot  where  Mr.  Williams  was  born,  a  perpetual  mon- 
ument to  his  liberal  benefaction.     It  was  not  money  alone, 
however,  tliat  ]\rr.  Williams  contril)uted  to  tliis  admirable 
object :  he  gave  it  his  constant  supervision,  and  was  one  of 
the  first  trustees.     He  made  himself  perfectly  familiar  with 
its  details,  and  was  anxious  and  watchful  that  the  institu- 
tion should  become  a  blessing  to  the  unfortunate  class  so 
long  neglected  and  ill-treated  ;  nor  did  he  relax  his  efforts, 
until  he  found  that  the  hospital  had  outlived  the  prejudices 
excited  against  it,  and  had  wholly  gained  the  confidence  of 
the  public.     He  then,  in  1859,  resigned  the  office  of  trustee. 
But  we  cannot  dwell  upon  his  numerous  acts  of  beneficence. 
"  They  are  registered  where  every  day  you  may  turn  the 
leaf  to  read  them."     "  His  fellow-citizens,"  says  the  gentle- 
man before  quoted,  "  entertained  the  highest  opinion  of  his 
business  capacity,  and  when  the  Augusta  dam,  in  which  his 
friends  and  connections  were  deeply  engaged,  was  twice  car- 
ried away,  he  was  told  that  he  must  engage  in  it,  as  he  was 
tlie  only  person  wlio  could  carry  it  successfully   through. 
He  accepted  the  presidency  of  the  corporation.      The  dam 
was  completed,  and  though  it  has  been  unfortunate  for  the 
stockholders,  it  has  added  largely  to  the  population  and 
business  of  the  place." 

The  last  public  act  in  which  Mr.  Williams  engaged  was  in 
18G1,  when  he  proceeded  to  Washington  with  Vice  Presi- 
dent Hamlin  and  John  A.  Poor,  under  a  commission  from 
Gov.  Washburn,  to  invoke  tlic  prompt  action  of  tlic  national 
government  in  fortifying  the  sea  coast  of  Maine.  Tliey 
enlisted  the  attention  and  interest  of  the  government  in  the 
subject,  and  a  system  of  measures  was  initiated  wliich  will 


460  REUEL   WILLIAMS:    DANIEL  CONY. 

result,  probably,  in  giving  efficient  protection  to  prominent 
points  of  our  coast.  But,  daring  his  absence,  he  took  a 
severe  cold  -which  prostrated  him,  and  caused  a  sickness 
which  at  one  time  threatened  sudden  dissolution.  lie,  how- 
ever, rallied  from  it,  but  with  health  and  a  constitution  nat- 
urally firm  and  rugged,  considerably  impaired.  He  had  a 
relapse  which  still  further  prostrated  him,  and  his  strong 
constitution  at  length  wholly  gave  way,  and  he  ceased  to 
live  July  25,  1862,  at  the  age  of  seventy-nine.  He  died 
calmly,  and  in  a  firm  religious  trust. 

Although  Mr.  Williams  did  not  enjoy  the  advantages  of  a 
liberal  education,  he  ever  felt  the  importance  of  encourag- 
ing the  cause  of  education  in  the  State,  and  contributed  to 
promote  it.  He  was  thirty-eight  years  one  of  the  trustees  of 
Bowdoin  College,  from  which  in  1820  he  received  the  hon- 
orary degree  of  A.  M.,  and  that  of  LL.  D.  in  1855.  In 
1815,  Harvard  College  also  gave  him  the  degree  of  A.  M. 
On  resigning  the  office  of  trustee  of  Bowdoin,  which  he  had 
faithfully  filled  for  so  long  a  period,  he  presented  to  the 
institution  the  sum  of  three  thousand  dollars. 

The  same  good  fortune,  or  good  Providence,  perhaps  we 
should  say,  which  waited  upon  Mr.  Williams  in  his  varied 
and  numerous  active  pursuits,  accompanied  him  in  private 
and  domestic  life.  He  early  obtained  for  a  companion  and 
friend,  and  the  head  of  his  household,  a  daughter  of  Judge 
Daniel  Cony,  an  eminent  citizen  of  Augusta.  Judge  Cony 
was  born  in  Sharon,  Massachusetts :  he  held  civil  and  mili- 
tary offices  in  his  native  town  and  State,  during  and  before 
the  Revolution :  in  1778,  having  been  married  but  two 
years,  he  moved  to  the  infant  settlement  of  Augusta.  Here 
he  enjoyed  the  favor  of  his  fellow-citizens,  was  elected  for 
twelve  successive  years  to  the  House  or  Senate  or  Exec- 
utive Council  of  Massachusetts,  was  ten  years  an  active 
member  of   the  committee  for  the  sale  of  eastern  lands, 


REUEL  WILLIAMS:  THOMAS  BOND.  461 

twelve  years  a  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and 
seventeen  years  judge  of  Probate.  He  died  January  21, 
1842,  in  the  ninetictli  year  of  his  age.  Judge  Cony  had 
four  daughters :  one,  Sally,  married  to  Mr.  Williams ;  another, 
Abigail,  to  Rev.  John  11.  Ingraham  ;  the  others,  Susan  and 
Paulina,  to  Samuel  Cony  and  Chief  Justice  Weston. 

Mr.  Williams  had  a  large  family  of  children,  eight  daugh- 
ters and  one  son  ;  and  we  know  of  no  truer  test  of  a  parent's 
domestic  qualities  than  the  respect  and  affection  entertained 
for  him  by  his  children.  Mr.  Williams  will  not  suffer  when 
measured  by  this  standard.  His  only  son,  Joseph  H.  Wil- 
liams, is  a  lawyer  in  Augusta  :  in  1857,  he  was  President  of 
the  Senate,  and  acting  Governor  the  greater  part  of  the  year, 
on  the  resignation  of  Gov.  Hamlin  to  take  his  seat  in  the 
Senate  of  the  United  States.  He  was  nominated  for  the 
office  of  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  1862,  but  declined 
the  situation.  Five  daughters  of  Mr.  Williams  married  as 
follows  ;  viz.,  Sarah,  to  James  Bridge  ;  Paulina,  to  Charles 
Jones  ;  Zilpha,  to  John  L.  Cutler ;  Jane,  to  the  Rev.  Mr. 
Judd  ;  and  Helen  A.,  to  Dr.  John  T.  Gilman  :  his  youngest 
daughter,  Anne,  remains  single.  Mrs.  Jones  and  Mrs.  Cut- 
ler died  before  their  father.  Mrs.  Williams  has  ever  pre- 
sided over  this  happy  domestic  circle  with  dignity  and  good 
sense,  dispensing  hospitality  and  liberal  gifts  with  unfailing 
hand.  Long  may  its  open  palm  continue,  and  her  life  and 
health  be  spared. 

THOjMAS     bond.      1804  —  1827. 

The  contemporaries  and  competitors  of  Mr.  Williams  dur- 
ing the  early  jicriod  of  his  practice  at  the  Kennebec  Bar, 
who  attained  distinction,  were  Thomas  Rice  of  Winslow, 
Timothy  Boutelle  of  Waterville,  Judge  Wilde,  Thomas 
Bond  and  Nathaniel  Pcrlcy  of  Hallo  well,  Judge  Bridge  of 


462  THOMAS  BOND. 

Augusta,  Nathan  Cutler  of  Farmington,  and  Frederic  Allen 
of  Gardiner.  At  a  later  period,  1815,  Peleg  Spraguc,  and 
in  1818,  George  Evans,  came  in  and  took  a  liigli  position,  as 
the  others  were  gradually  retiring  from  this  scene  of  their 
lahors.  Of  this  talented  group,  none  remain  alive,  in  1862, 
but  Allen,  Sprague,  and  Evans. 

Thomas  Bond,  who  had  a  brilliant  career  at  the  bar,  was 
descended  from  AVilliara  Bond,  the  first  American  ancestor, 
who  was  born  in  Suffolk  County,  England,  in  1G25,  came  a 
young  man  to  Watertown,  Massachusetts,  and  was  the  founder 
of  most  of  the  families  by  the  name  of  Bond,  in  New  Eng- 
land. The  grandfather  of  Thomas  was  Amos  of  Water- 
town,  a  weaver,  who  died  in  1762.  His  father,  Thomas, 
was  born  in  1761,  moved  to  Groton  in  1773,  married  Estlier 
Merriam  of  Concord  in  1777,  and  moved  with  his  family  to 
Augusta  in  1796,  where  he  died  March  15, 1815.  Thomas 
was  his  oldest  son,  and  was  born  in  Groton,  April  2,  1778. 
Soon  after  moving  to  Augusta,  he  entered  Harvard  College, 
from  which  he  took  his  first  degree  in  1801,  having  among 
his  classmates,  Timothy  Fuller,  R.  H,  Gardiner,  Dr.  Gor- 
ham  of  Boston  and  Archdeacon  Stuart  of  Canada  ;  among 
whom  he  held  a  high  rank.  On  leaving  college,  he  entered 
the  office  of  the  late  Judge  Wilde  at  Hallowell,  as  a  stu- 
dent. Having  diligently  improved  his  time  and  the  very 
favorable  opportunity  he  enjoyed  in  the  office  of  so  genial 
and  distinguished  a  practitioner  as  Mr.  Wilde,  he  was 
thought  worthy,  on  being  admitted  to  practice,  to  be  received 
by  his  respected  teacher  into  partnership.  No  better  proof 
can  be  furnished  of  the  high  qualities  of  Mr.  Bond  than 
this  substantial  token  of  his  merit.  Mr.  Bond  now  entered 
upon  a  career  of  successful  practice  and  full  employment. 
His  partner  was  drawn  away  into  all  the  eastern  counties 
by  his  popularity  as  a  lawyer  and  advocate,  and  was  neces- 
sarily  much  absent  from  his  office.      The  responsibility. 


THOMAS   BOND.  463 

therefore,  of  conducting  the  office  business,  devolved  upon 
the  junior  partner,  who  proved  himself  to  be  fully  compe- 
tent to  the  duty.  The  partnership  contuiued  until  Mr. 
Wilde  was  raised  to  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court  of 
Massachusetts,  in  1815,  when  Mr.  Bond  took  charge  of  the 
whole  business.  His  labors  became  now  severe  and  respon- 
sible :  it  was  a  hard  task  to  sustain  the  structure  which  had 
rested  on  the  athletic  shoulders  of  Wilde  ;  but  j\Ir.  Bond 
acquitted  himself  with  ability  l)oth  in  the  details  of  the 
office,  and  the  wider  field  of  the  forum.  For  more  than 
twenty  years,  he  maintained  a  high  and  honorable  position 
at  the  bar  and  in  society,  faithfully  fulfilling  all  trusts,  and 
acquiring  the  reputation  of  a  sound  lawyer,  ingenious  advo- 
cate, and  an  upright  man.  He  had  great  weight  with  the 
court  and  jury,  by  his  candor,  honesty,  and  ability. 

He  was  a  firm  and  unwavering  Federalist  in  his  politics ; 
and  when  the  war  with  England  brought  up  the  conserv- 
atives in  Maine  and  throughout  New  England,  he  was  chosen 
to  represent  Hallowcll  in  the  General  Court,  in  the  years 
1813  and  1814.  He  acted  decidedly  with  his  party,  but 
was  entirely  free  from  the  tricks  of  a  partisan  or  demagogue. 
In  the  latter  year,  his  friend  and  partner,  Mr.  Wilde,  was 
chosen  by  the  Legislature,  a  member  of  the  Hartford  Conven- 
tion, and  served  in  that  body.  In  1822  and  1823,  Mr.  Bond 
was  a  member  of  the  Senate  of  Maine,  from  Kennebec  County, 
and  in  the  latter  year  was  appointed  one  of  the  committee, 
with  Daniel  Rose  and  Benjamin  Ames,  to  select  a  suitable 
site  for  a  State's  prison.  In  182G,  he  was  appointed  on  the 
part  of  the  Senate  a  commissioner  to  revise  the  penal  code. 
In  1824,  he  was  chosen  one  of  the  trustees  of  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege, and  continued  in  the  office  to  the  time  of  his  death. 

In  1805,  December  l,Mr.  Bond  married  LucretiaF.  Pago, 
a  daughter  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Page,  a  distinguished  jihysician 
of  Hallowcll,  ])y  whom  he  had  three  children,  viz.,  Francis 


464  THOMAS  BOND  :    TIMOTHY   BOUTELLE. 

Eugene,  Lucretia  Page,  and  Caroline  Mary.  The  son  Avas 
born  February  7, 1808,  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College  in 
1828,  became  a  lawyer,  and  practiced  awhile  in  Darien, 
Georgia,  but  came  to  Bangor  in  this  State,  where  he  died, 
September  5,  1840.  Lucretia  married  Dr.  Franldin  Page  : 
they  resided  some  time  in  Cuba,  but  returned  to  Bangor, 
where  she  died  in  184G.  Caroline  married  Thomas  H.  Sand- 
ford,  a  merchant  in  New  York.  She  died  in  Brooklyn,  New 
York,  January  11,  1853,  aged  thirty-seven,  leaving  two 
daughters,  the  only  representatives  of  Mr.  Bond  now  living. 
His  widow  is  living,  in  18G2,  at  Brooklyn.  In  domestic  lite, 
he  exhibited  the  same  generous  qualities  which  he  displayed 
in  his  public  and  professional  deportment.  He  died  sudden- 
ly, of  an  acute  disease,  in  1827,  in  the  forty-ninth  year  of 
his  age,  greatly  lamented  by  his  fellow-citizens. 

Mr.  Allen,  in  his  sketches  of  the  deceased  members  of 
the  Kennebec  Bar,  in  the  sixth  volume  of  the  Maine  His- 
torical Collections,  furnishes  the  following  comprehensive 
summary  of  this  gentleman's  character :  "  Mr.  Bond  was 
remarkable  for  his  integrity,  for  the  urbanity  of  his  manners 
and  deportment.  He  was  familiar  with  the  principles  of 
the  common  law,  and  with  the  rules  of  practice.  He  was  a 
very  safe  counsellor  and  adviser,  and  was  a  highly  reputable 
advocate.  His  practice  was  extensive,  and  no  one  was  more 
beloved  and  esteemed  by  his  fellow-citizens.  His  habits  and 
modes  of  life  were  unexceptionable." 

TIMOTHY    BOUTELLE.      1804  —  1855. 

Timothy  Boutelle  occupied  for  fifty  years  a  prominent  posi- 
tion among  the  lawyers  and  intellectual  men  of  the  State. 
He  was  descended  from  James  Boutell,  who  came  from  Eng- 
land and  settled  in  Salem,  as  early  as  1G35,  and  died  in  1G51. 
The  name  is  variously  spelled  in  our  annals, — Boutell,  Bout- 


fnl^'  30^^ 


f 


,^: 


<^^ 


^t^'^" 


#^ 


..^-^ 


At  thea^c  ofys. 


TIMOTHY   BOUTELLE.  465 

well,  and  Boutclle.  George  S.  Boutwell,  late  Governor  of 
Massachusetts,  and  now  commissioner  of  revenue,  is  of  this 
family.  The  father  of  Mr.  Boutelle,  Col.  Timothy,  was  a 
respectable  farmer  in  Leominster,  Massachusetts,  where  our 
late  honored  fellow  citizen  was  born,  November  10,  1777 : 
his  mother's  name  was  Rachel  Lincoln.  His  father  served 
in  the  army  during  one  or  two  campaigns  of  the  Revolution, 
and  in  1785,  commanded  a  regiment  called  out  to  suppress 
the  Shays  insurrection. 

Mr.  Boutelle  when  young  had  delicate  health,  and  there- 
fore seemed  incapable  of  rugged  labor  ;  but  showing  consid- 
erable mental  power,  his  father  was  induced  to  give  him  a 
liberal  education.  After  receiving  the  preliminary  prepar- 
ation, he  entered  Harvard  College  in  1796,  from  which  he 
took  his  degree  in  honorable  standing  in  1800.  His  class 
contained  many  men  whose  names  have  not  been  jjermitted 
to  perish.  Among  tliem  were  Wasiiington  AUston  ;  Loammi 
Baldwin ;  President  Bates  of  Middlebury  College  ;  Joseph 
y.  Buckminstcr,  the  accomplished  and  learned  minister  of 
Brattle  Street  Church,  Boston  ;  Rev.  Dr.  Lowell  of  Boston  ; 
Chief  Justice  Shaw ;  Dr.  Lincoln  of  Brunswick,  and  Dr. 
Weed  of  Portland.  Of  the  forty-seven  members  of  the 
class,  two  only  survive,  —  Dr.  Lincoln  and  Col.  Samuel 
Swett  of  Boston.  In  college,  he  was  the  chum  of  Chief 
Justice  Shaw.  His  scholarship  may  be  inferred  from  his 
having  been  a  member  of  the  Piii-Beta-Kappa  Society,  the 
highest  literary  institution  of  the  college. 

Immediately  on  leaving  college,  Mr.  Boutclle  became  the 
assistant  preceptor  of  Leicester  Academy,  then  under  charge 
of  Ebenezer  Adams,  late  professor  of  mathematics  at  Dart- 
mouth College.  He  remained  there  one  year,  and  then 
entered  the  office  of  Aljijah  Bigclow  in  his  native  town. 
Mr.  Bigclow  was  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth,  179.3,  and  a  man 
of  some  uote.     He  represented  his  district  in  Congress  from 


466  TIMOTHY   BOUTELLE. 

1810  to  1815,  and  was  many  years  clerk  of  the  courts  in 
Worcester  County.  Mr.  J5outellc  completed  liis  studies  in 
the  office  of  Edward  Gray  in  Boston.  On  being  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1804,  he  came  to  Waterville,  which  was  ever 
after  his  place  of  residence.  The  only  lawyers  then  in  the 
neighborhood  were  Reuben  Kidder  of  Waterville,  and  Thom- 
as Rice  of  Winslow,  the  town  ojiposite.  If  the  lawyers  were 
few,  the  population  and  business  were  small ;  Waterville 
was  incorporated  in  1802,  and  contained  a  population  of 
only  eight  or  nine  hundred,  and  the  whole  county,  includ- 
ing Somerset  and  Franklin,  which  were  not  then  established, 
only  about  twenty-live  thousand.  His  Inisiness,  small  at 
first,  went  on  gradually  increasing,  as  the  country  increased, 
and  his  merits  became  known,  until  by  his  legal  acquire- 
ments, his  earnest  and  eloquent  advocacy  of  his  cases,  his 
genial  manners  and  firm  principle,  he  rose  into  the  front 
rank  of  the  profession.  Chief  Justice  Shaw,  in  noticing 
the  death  of  his  classmate,  makes  the  following  remarks : 
"  When  Mr.  Boutclle  entered  the  profession  of  law  in  Maine, 
he  placed  himself  within  the  circle  of  distinguished  coun- 
sellors and  advocates,  most  of  whom,  like  himself,  had  gone 
from  Massachusetts  :  among  these  were  Parker,  Wilde,  Mel- 
lon, Davis,  the  Thachers,  the  Whitmans,  and  many  others, 
since  known  as  the  bright  ornaments  of  the  legal  profession. 
He  soon  established  a  good  practice  in  the  counties  of  Ken- 
nebec and  Somerset,  to  which  his  attention  was  principally 
limited.  In  a  bar  eminent  for  talents  and  learning,  he  had 
the  reputation  of  being  a  well-trained  and  well-read  lawyer, 
with  a  quick  apprehension  and  a  power  of  legal  discrimin- 
ation, which  enabled  him  to  discern  and  apply  the  sometimes 
nice  distinctions  of  the  common  law,  to  involved  and  intri- 
cate combinations  of  fact,  with  peculiar  force  and  ciTcct." 

After  the  county  of  Somerset  was  established  in  1809,  ho 
regularly  attended  the  courts  in  that  county,  and  occasion- 


TIMOTHY   BOUTELLE,  467 

ally  went  into  other  counties.  His  business  became  very 
large,  hardly  surpassed  by  any  lawyer  at  the  Kennebec  Bar. 
As  an  advocate,  he  was  eminently  successful ;  industrious 
and  faithful  in  the  preparation  of  his  cases  :  honoraljle  in 
his  practice,  with  a  mind  acute  and  comprehensive,  and  well- 
stored  with  legal  principles  and  standard  authorities,  he 
could  not  fail  to  command  a  full  share  of  the  best  business, 
and  the  commendation  of  the  whole  community.  A  writer 
of  an  article  previous  to  his  death,  thus  speaks  of  his  man- 
ner and  effect  in  court :  "  In  addressing  the  court  or  jury, 
he  did  not  aim  at  mere  rhetorical  display.  His  manner  was 
earnest,  energetic,  forcible  :  his  arguments  were  clear,  log- 
ical, conclusive  ;  and  his  object  manifestly  was  to  serve  his 
client  with  the  utmost  fidelity,  rather  than  to  exhibit  him- 
self and  gain  applause.  He  uniformly  had  the  respect  and 
confidence  of  the  court  as  a  sound  and  able  lawyer,  and  was 
influential  with  the  jury  because  he  presented  his  views  with 
clearness  and  force,  and  appeared  before  them  with  the  moral 
power  of  an  honest  man."  Mr.  Boutelle  never,  in  the  most 
active  period  of  his  life,  neglected  the  cultivation  of  his 
various  intellectual  powers.  He  was  a  great  reader  both  of 
history  and  general  literature,  and  few  men  were  better 
informed,  in  regard  to  the  progress  of  society  and  the  cur- 
rent events  of  the  world,  than  he  was.  He  was  free  to  im- 
part his  knowledge  :  easy  and  social  in  his  manners,  of  happy 
conversational  talent,  he  freely  communicated  from  his  ample 
stores  of  information  to  all  who  were  desirous  of  enjoying 
them. 

In  his  early  practice,  Mr.  Boutelle  refrained  entirely  from 
public  life.  The  only  office  he  consented  to  fill,  before  the 
separation,  was  that  of  elector  of  President  and  Vice  Pres- 
ident in  181G.  Christopher  Gore  was  at  the  head  of  the 
college,  and  his  associates  from  Maine  were  Prentiss  Mellen, 
John  Low,  Stephen  Longfellow,  William  Abbott,  and  Josiah 


468  TIMOTHY  BOUTELLE. 

Stebbins.  The  vote  of  Massachusetts,  then  including  Maine, 
was  cast  for  Rufus  King,  who  received  but  thirty-four  votes 
out  of  two  hundred  and  seventeen  cast :  the  remainder  were 
for  James  Monroe.  Soon  after  this,  the  discussions  for  the 
separation  of  Maine  from  Massachusetts  became  more  ani- 
mated. Mr.  Boutelle  gave  his  influence  in  favor  of  the 
measure  ;  and  when  it  was  finally  accomplished  in  1820,  he 
was  elected  the  first  senator  from  Kennebec  for  that  and  the 
following  year.  These  were  the  most  important  years  in  the 
legislation  of  Maine,  for  the  new  government  was  to  be 
inaugurated,  and  a  code  of  laws' was  to  be  formed,  adapted 
to  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  the  State. 

During  the  twenty  years  following  the  separation,  Mr. 
Boutelle  was  repeatedly  called  into  public  life :  he  served,  in 
this  period,  six  years  in  the  Senate,  and  six  years  in  the 
House,  and  was  a  judicious  and  able  member  of  important 
committees,  especially  of  the  Judiciary  Committee,  of  which 
he  was  often  chairman,  on  which  the  most  responsible  labors 
of  legislation  rested.  His  experience,  his  legal  and  general 
knowledge,  rendered  his  services  peculiarly  valuable  to  the 
State.  He  entered  into  the  debates  on  important  questions, 
which  he  discussed  with  earnestness,  directness,  and  force. 

In  1829,  he  made  a  report  on  the  North-Eastern  Boundary, 
clear  and  able,  thus  stating  the  position  of  Maine  :  "  The 
people  of  Maine  have  a  constitutional  right  to  claim,  and  do 
claim,  of  the  government  of  the  United  States,  that  they 
will  not  suffer  the  integrity  of  our  State  to  be  violated  — 
that  they  will  assist  us  in  preserving  our  ancient  land-marks, 
and  in  vindicating  our  undoubted  right  to  all  the  territory 
assigned  to  us  by  the  treaty  of  1783."  In  1838,  as  chair- 
man of  the  judiciary  committee,  he  made  a  very  al)le  report 
on  the  subject  of  divorces  by  the  Legislature,  which  checked 
an  evil  that  had  become  prevalent  and  was  increasing,  of 
making  the  Legislature  a  court  for  the  dissolution  of  the 


TIMOTHY  BOUTELLE.  469 

bonds  of  matrimony.  He  concludes  as  follows  :  "  The  Le"-- 
islature  is  not,  then,  a  branch  of  the  judiciary,  as  known  to 
our  constitution,  nor  is  it  a  court  in  the  last  resort,  havinsr 
the  right,  in  divorce  cases,  to  prescribe  and  apply  to  each 
particular  case,  such  principles  as  suit  its  pleasure  —  acting, 
in  fact,  above  and  beyond  the  law.  Sufficient  has  been  said, 
as  your  committee  believe,  to  establish  the  position,  that  the 
Legislature  cannot,  in  any  case,  nor  under  any  circumstan- 
ces, rightfully  undertake  to  dissolve  the  marriage  contract." 
Notwithstanding  the  soundness  of  this  doctrine  in  law,  and 
its  reasonableness  in  practice,  cases  are  annually  pressed 
upon  the  Legislature  for  special  action  on  this  subject. 

In  1821,  he  procured  a  charter  for  Waterville  College,  or 
rather  a  change  of  its  name  from  that  of  "  The  Maine  Lit- 
erary and  Theological  Institution,"  by  which  it  was  first 
incorporated,  to  its  present  title.  Mr.  Boutelle  was  one  of 
the  trustees  appointed  the  same  year,  and  continued  an 
active  and  useful  member  of  the  board  during  his  life.  He 
was  ever  watchful  for  its  interests  and  its  honor,  and  pro 
motcd  in  every  practicable  manner  its  advantages  and  use 
fulness.  In  1830,  he  received  from  it  the  deserved  distinc- 
tion of  Doctor  of  Laws.  He  lived  to  see  the  college  take  a 
prominent  position  among  the  literary  institutions  of  the 
country,  and  administered  by  men  of  industry,  worth,  and 
learning. 

From  the  year  in  which  he  established  himself  in  Water- 
ville, Mr.  Boutelle  devoted  himself  with  energy  and  intelli- 
gence to  promote  the  prosperity,  elevation,  and  happiness  of 
that  beautiful  village.  In  the  department  of  education,  were 
the  college  and  the  schools ;  in  its  pecuniary  concerns,  he 
took  the  like  interest ;  and,  in  1814,  assisted  in  procuring  a 
charter  for  the  "Waterville  Bank,  with  a  capital  of  one 
hundred  thousand  dollars,  the  first  established  on  tlie  Ken- 
nebec River  above  Augusta ;  tlie  bank  in  that  town  having 


470  TIMOTHY  BOUTELLE. 

been  incorporated  at  the  same  session.  He  was  a  director 
from  its  organization,  and  for  more  than  twenty  years  its 
president,  managing  its  affairs  with  great  slvill  and  pru- 
dence. 

In  1847,  he  was  an  efficient  agent  in  procuring  a  charter 
for  the  Androscoggin  and  Kennebec  Railroad,  connecting 
with  the  Atlantic  and  St.  Lawrence  Railroad  at  Danville, 
and  extending  lifty-fivc  miles  to  Waterville.  lie  was  made 
the  first  president,  and  by  indefatigable  exertions,  he  was 
able,  with  the  assistance  of  a  competent  board  of  directors, 
to  carry  the  enterprise  through,  so  that  in  three  years  the 
road  was  opened  for  travel,  at  a  cost  of  over  two  millions  of 
dollars,  and  at  a  time  when  the  pressure  for  money  on  the 
market  was  unusually  stringent.  By  this  great  avenue  of 
traffic  and  transportation,  Waterville  was  put  in  connection 
with  Portland  and  the  great  cities  west  and  south  of  it ;  and 
its  trade  and  general  welfare  largely  promoted.  He  felt 
now  as  if  he  might,  at  the  age  of  seventy-three,  ask  relief 
from  the  wearing  toil  and  responsibility  of  this  laborious 
office  ;  and  he  declined,  after  three  years'  service,  a  further 
election.  Since  that  time,  the  road  has  been  extended  to 
Bangor,  and  is  now  under  successful  operation  :  by  a  con- 
solidation accomplished  in  1862,  with  the  Penobscot  and 
Kennebec  road,  it  forms  one  line  one  hundred  and  ten  miles 
long,  under  the  new  name  of  Maine  Central  Railroad  Co. 
This  route,  by  its  various  connections,  furnishes  ample  facil- 
ities for  transportation  by  rail  to  the  great  lakes  in  Canada, 
to  and  beyond  the  Mississippi  at  the  west,  and  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico  at  the  south. 

Such  are  some  of  the  claims  of  Mr.  Boutelle  to  the  affec- 
tionate remembrance  of  his  fellow-citizens.  His  elevated 
moral  character,  his  sterling  religious  principles,  his  noble 
public  and  private  example,  entitle  him  to  the  warmest 
commendation  of  the  whole  community  which  he  adorned 
and  advanced  bv  his  high  social  virtues. 


TIMOTHY  BOUTELLE:   WOODBURY   STORER.  471 

Mr.  Boutellc's  domestic  life  was  no  less  commendable  than 
were  his  public  and  professional  services.  In  1811,  he  mar- 
ried Helen,  a  daughter  of  Judge  Rogers,  of  Exeter,  New 
Hampshire,  by  whom  he  had  a  large  family  of  children. 
His  excellent  wife,  to  whom  he  was  tenderly  attached,  and 
who  was  a  most  devoted  friend,  with  two  children,  survived 
him.  His  son  is  a  physician  in  Waterville  ;  and  his  daughter 
is  the  wife  of  Edwin  Noyes,  a  lawyer  in  AVaterville,  and  the 
able  superintendent  of  the  Androscoggin  and  Kennebec  Hail- 
road. 

Mr.  Boutelle  closed  his  long  and  busy  life,  November  12, 
1855,  at  the  ripe  age  of  seventy-seven  years  and  two  days. 
We  cannot  more  aptly  conclude  our  notice  of  this  estimable 
man  than  by  adopting  the  language  of  his  classmate  and 
life-long  friend,  Cliief  Justice  Shaw :  "  Active,  energetic, 
and  public-spirited,  he  was  ever  ready  to  engage  in  any 
enterprise  which,  in  his  judgment,  would  tend  to  promote 
the  best  interests  of  the  public  ;  and  in  all  situations  of  influ- 
ence and  trust,  and  in  all  the  offices  and  employments  of 
political  and  public  life,  he  enjoyed,  in  a  high  degree,  the 
confidence  of  those  associated  with  him." 

WOODBURY    STORER.      1805  —  1800. 

If  the  services  of  one's  ancestors  against  the  enemies  of 
the  country  were  a  title,  in  former  times,  and  in  kingly 
nations,  to  the  distinctions  of  nobility,  surely  in  our  days, 
and  under  our  institutions,  the  descendants  of  those  who 
saved  tlie  colonics  from  the  destructive  inroads  of  French 
and  savage  invasion,  and  afterwards  established  the  inde- 
pendence of  the  nation,  arc  entitled  to  the  civic  honor  of 
respectful  commemoration.  It  cannot  fail  to  have  impressed 
those  of  our  readers  who  have  reflected  on  the  subject,  that 
the  ancestors  of  a  largo  proportion  of   the  persons  whoso 


472  WOODBURY   STORER. 

lives  have  been  sketched  in  this  vohime,  bore  prominent 
parts  in  the  Indian  wars  of  our  early  annals,  or  in  the  later 
Revolutionary  struggle.  Such  men  are  the  true  nobility  of 
a  country. 

Among  these,  were  the  ancestors  of  Mr.  Storer,  both  on 
the  maternal  and  paternal  side.  His  great-grandfather  was 
Joseph  Storer,  who  was  an  active  officer  in  the  second  Indian 
war,  and  his  house  in  Wells  was  a  garrison,  which  gave  pro- 
tection to  all  within  its  reach  ;  and  his  great  grandmother, 
Hannah  Hill,  wife  of  Joseph  Storer,  belonged  to  a  family 
that  was  constantly  engaged  for  the  defense  and  progress  of 
the  early  communities.  His  grandfather,  John  Storer,  was 
a  prominent  man  in  the  affairs  of  York  County  many  years  : 
he  married  Mary,  a  sister  of  Woodbury  and  Gov.  John 
Langdon  of  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire,  by  whom  he  had 
six  sons  ;  viz,  John  of  Wells  ;  Samuel  of  Portsmouth ;  Bel- 
lamy, who  died  in  the  Revolution  ;  Capt.  Seth  of  Saco ;  and 
Ebenezer  and  Woodbury  of  Portland.  The  name  of  Wood- 
bury, as  a  Christian  name,  came  into  the  family  in  this  way. 
Elizabeth,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Samuel  Dudley  of  Exeter, 
a  descendant  of  Gov.  Joseph  Dudley,  married,  in  1674, 
Kinsley  Hall  of  that  town  :  their  eldest  son,  Josiah,  married 
a  Woodbury  of  Beverly,  by  whom  he  had  two  children, — 
Elizabeth,  wife  of  Tobias  Lear,  the  grandfather  of  the  Tobias 
Lear  who  was  aid  to  Washington,  and  consul  general  to 
Tripoli ;  and  Mary,  wife  of  John  Langdon.  She  became  the 
mother  of  Woodbury,  Gov.  John,  and  Mary  Langdon,  who 
was  the  mother  of  Woodbury  Storer,  the  father  of  the  sub- 
ject of  the  present  notice.  Our  Woodbury  Storer,  there- 
fore, combined  the  blood  of  the  Dudleys,  the  Hills,  the  Wood- 
burys,  and  the  Langdons,  with  that  of  the  Storers. 

He  was  born  in  Portland,  July  12,  1783.  His  fatlier 
came  to  Portland  from  Wells  before  the  Revolution,  a  young 
man,  and  entered  the  store  of  John  Archer  as  a  clerk.     He 


WOODBURY   STORER.  473 

was  serving  in  that  capacity  when  the  town  was  burned  by 
tlie  British  fleet  under  command  of  Cajot.  Henry  Mowat. 
Mr.   Archer's   stock  oi"  goods   was   hastily  moved  to   the 
neighboring  town,  and  Storer,  the  young  clerk,  stood  sentry 
over  it  with  his  musket  till  it  could  be  safely  secured.     After 
the  war  was  over,  Mr.  Storer,  the  father,  engaged  very  largely 
in  commercial  business  in  company  with  his  brother  Eben- 
czer,  who  had  been  an  efficient  officer  in  the  army,  and  was 
true  to  the  martial  traditions  of  the  family.     This  alliance 
of  blood  and  business  was  still  farther  extended  by  their 
marriage  of  sisters,  daughters  of  Deacon  Benjamin  Titcomb 
of  Portland,  and  grand-daughters  of  Moses  Pearson,  who 
served  with  honor  in  the  Louisburg  expedition,  and  was  the 
first  sheriff  of  Cumberland,  and  subsequently  one  of  the 
judges  of  the  Common  Pleas.     Anna,  the  second  daughter 
of  Deacon  Titcomb,  was  married  to  Mr.  Storer's  father  in 
1780,  and  died  in  1788,  leaving  one  son,  Woodbury,  and 
two  daughters.     The  daughters  were  married,  one  to  Wil- 
liam Goddard  of  Portland,  afterwards  a  prominent  merchant 
in  Boston ;  the  other  to  Judge  Barrett  Potter,  who  is  still 
living,  and  a  widower.     By  a  second  marriage  with   Mar- 
garet, daughter  of  James  Boyd,  the  elder  Woodbury  Storer 
had  a  large  family  of  sons  and  daughters,  who  have  taken 
honorable  positions  in  the  communities  where  they  have 
established  themselves  :  the  Rev.  John  Parker  Boyd  Storer, 
late  minister  in  Syracuse,  New  York,  now  deceased  ;  Judge 
Bellamy  in  Cincinnati;   Robert,  a  merchant,  and  David 
Humphreys,  a  physician,  both  in  Boston,  highly  respected 
and  valued  citizens. 

Woodbury  Storer,  the  subject  of  our  sketch,  received  his 
preliminary  education  at  Phillips  Exeter  Academy,  then  the 
highest  seminary  of  its  kind  in  the  United  States,  and  under 
the  charge  of  that  admirable  instructor  and  disciplinarian, 
Benjamin   Abbot,  LL.  I).,  whose  fifty  years'  service   was 

31 


474  AVOODBURY   STORER  :    EXETER   ACADEMY. 

rounded  off  by  a  splendid  jubilee,  -which  called  around  this 
venerable  seat  of  juvenile  study,  a  large  proportion  of  the 
older  and  younger  pupils.  Daniel  Webster  presided.  Ed- 
ward Everett,  Benjamin  Merrill,  Sparks,  Palfrey,  and  other 
distinguished  savans  graced  the  occasion.  Tiiis  school  was 
then,  in  the  dearth  of  educational  advantages  in  Maine,  the 
favorite  resort  of  her  sons  seeking  a  higher  education. 
Young  Storer  entered  it  in  1708  :  we  find  upon  its  catalogue 
from  Maine  about  that  time,  Lyman  from  York  ;  King  and 
Pierson  from  Biddeford ;  two  Titcombs,  Fosdick,  Cobb,  flun- 
newell,  and  Henry  Wads  worth,  the  martyr  of  Tripoli,  from 
Portland  ;  Chandler  from  Fryeburg  ;  Page  from  Ilallowell ; 
Cook  from  Wiscasset ;  and  numerous  others  from  different 
parts  of  the  State,  showing  a  degree  of  popularity  in  the 
institution  then  unsurpassed. 

Mr.  Storer  continued  about  two  years  at  Exeter,  and  then 
entered  the  ofhcc  of  William  Symmes  in  Portland.  Mr. 
Symmes  had  graduated  in  1780  at  Harvard,  had  resided 
sometime  in  Virginia  as  a  private  tutor,  and  had  been  a  mem- 
ber of  the  convention  of  Massachusetts  which  had  adopted 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States.  He  had  been  in  prac- 
tice in  Portland  ten  years,  and  was  confessedly  at  the  head 
of  the  bar  in  Maine,  as  a  lawyer,  an  advocate,  and  a  general 
scholar.  The  fcllow-studcnts  of  Mr.  Storer  were  Thomas 
E.  Hale,  who  died  in  Castine,  and  William  Freeman,  son  of 
Judge  Samuel  Freeman  of  Portland,  a  graduate  of  Harvard 
with  high  honors,  in  1804.  Mr.  Storer  faithfully  and  dil- 
igently pursued  his  studies  under  the  favorable  circumstan- 
ces offered  by  the  large  practice  of  Mr.  Symmes,  and  the  fel- 
lowship of  as  fine  a  society  of  talented  young  men  as  ever 
assembled  in  Portland.  They  wore  attracted  there  as  stu- 
dents by  the  reputation  of  Symmes,  the  late  Chief  Justice 
Parker,  Daniel  Davis,  and  Salmon  Chase.  Here  were  then 
gathered  as  students,  James  Savage  and  the  late  Gen.  Eus- 


WOODBURY  STORER.  475 

tis  of  Boston ;  William  B.  Sewall  of  York ;  William  Freeman  ; 
Edward  Payson,  then  preceptor  of  the  academy;  Horatio 
Southgate  ;  James  C.  Jewett ;  Samuel  D.  Freeman  ;  and  John 
Wadswortli. 

Mr.  Storer  continued  with  Mr.  Symmes  five  years,  the 
period  required  of  those  students  who  had  not  received  a 
collegiate  education,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1805. 
He  commenced  practice  in  Portland,  where  he  had  the  bene- 
fit of  a  large  circle  of  business  connections,  who  could  give 
to  a  person  commencing  life,  the  encouragement  which  ambi- 
tious young  men  need  to  stimulate  their  exertions,  and 
develop  their  powers. 

Mr.  Storer  had  a  steady,  regular  business :  he  was  not  an 
advocate,  and  rarely  addressed  the  court  or  jury,  but  he 
was  a  careful,  judicious,  and  honorable  practitioner.  For 
more  than  fifty  years,  he  pursued  a  uniform,  consistent,  and 
upright  course  of  life,  by  which  he  secured  tiic  confidence 
of  his  clients,  and  the  respect  of  the  community.  He  was 
much  employed  in  the  administration  of  estates  as  executor, 
guardian,  and  trustee,  in  which  capacities  he  had  large  expe- 
rience and  the  entire  reliance  of  those  who  obtained  his  serv- 
ices. At  the  time  of  his  death,  which  occurred  June  24, 
1860,  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven,  lacking  eighteen  days,  he 
was  the  oldest  member  of  the  Cumberland  bar,  with  the 
exception  of  Jonathan  Morgan,  then  eighty-two  years  old, 
and  still  surviving.  Gen.  Fossenden,  the  next  oldest  mem- 
ber of  that  bar,  and  one  year  younger  than  Mr.  Storer,  still 
survives. 

Mr.  Storer  did  not  attempt  great  and  brilliant  achieve- 
ments, but  he  performed  good  and  honest  ones.  Clients 
felt  safe  in  his  hands  :  his  life  and  practice  cast  no  shade 
upon  a  uniform  career  of  gentleness,  moderation,  and  useful 
endeavor.  The  widow  appealed  to  him  in  her  perplexity  ; 
the  orphan  confided  in  him ;  and  they  were  never  betrayed. 


476  "WOODBURY  storer:   elisiia  p.  cutler. 

He  •talked  uprightly,  and  worked  righteousness,  and  spoke 
the  truth  in  his  heart.  lie  Avas,  from  his  youth,  a  rchgious 
man,  sincere  and  conscientious,  and  many  years  one  of  the 
deacons  of  Dr.  Dwight's  church,  the  Third  Parish,  in  Port- 
land. 

Being  a  native  of  the  town,  and  always  a  resident  in  it, 
he  took  a  deep  interest  in  its  affairs :  he  was  particularly 
engaged  in  promoting  the  great  railroad  enterprises,  which 
have  extended  their  advantages  to  different  parts  of  the 
State,  and  especially  in  the  Atlantic  and  St.  Lawrence  Rail- 
Road,  which  he  watched  with  anxiety  from  its  inception  to 
its  completion,  aiding  it  hy  his  counsel  and  his  purse  ;  and, 
when  it  went  into  operation,  he  was  made  one  of  the  trustees 
of  the  sinking  fund,  which  place  he  held  at  the  time  of  his 
death. 

Mr.  Storer,  in  1811,  married  Miss  Mary  Barrett  of  Green- 
field, Massachusetts,  niece  of  Judge  Barrett  Potter  of  Port- 
land, and  grand-daughter  of  Col.  John  Barrett  of  Boston, 
afterwards  of  Springfield,  Vermont.  He  left  no  children, 
and  his  widow  survives. 

ELISHA     POMEROY    CUTLER.      1805  —  1813. 

The  same  year  which  introduced  Mr.  Storer  to  the  bar  of 
Cumberland,  witnessed  the  introduction  of  Mr.  Cutler,  a 
young  lawyer  of  fine  talents  and  brilliant  expectations.  Mr. 
Cutler  was  son  of  Dr.  Robert  Cutler,  a  distinguished  physi- 
cian of  Amherst,  New  Hampshire,  where  he  was  born  in 
1780.  He  received  his  puljlic  education  at  Williams  Col- 
lege, which  he  entered,  a  sophomore,  at  the  age  of  fifteen 
years,  and  graduated  in  1708.  He  pursued  his  legal  studies 
in  the  office  of  Judge  Samuel  Dana  of  Groton.  On  being 
admitted  to  practice,  he  opened  an  office  at  Ilardwick,  in  the 
county  of  Worcester,  where  he  remained  about  three  years, 


ELISHA   P.    CUTLER.  477 

and  then  moved  to  Xortli  Yarmouth,  in  this  State,  where  he 
opened  his  ofiice  in  1805. 

His  adoption  of  North  Yarmouth  as  his  place  of  resi- 
dence was  one  of  those  accidents,  or  providential  occurren- 
ces, which  often  shape  the  destinies  of  men,  "  rough  hew 
them  as  they  will."  He  accidentally  met  in  Boston  Dr. 
Ammi  R.  Mitchell,  the  loved  and  genial  physician  of  North 
Yarmouth,  who  represented  that  town  in  the  Legislature  in 
1805.  Mr.  Cutler  was  there  in  search  of  a  place  more  eligi- 
ble than  Hardwick  for  the  pursuit  of  his  profession.  Dr. 
Mitchell  was  so  much  pleased  with  him  that  he  recommended 
North  Yarmouth  to  him,  and  urged  him  to  make  that  his 
future  abode  ;  and,  as  an  inducement,  he  offered  him  a  home 
in  his  own  house.  The  offer  was  gratefully  accepted,  and 
Mr.  Cutler  ever  found  the  good  doctor  a  firm  and  constant 
friend  to  him  and  his  family. 

This  was  a  very  flourishing  town :  its  inhabitants  were  a 
well-cultivated  and  thrifty  people,  of  a  good  Puritan  stock. 
It  aiforded  as  much  encouragement  to  a  good  lawyer  as  any 
inland  town.  Judge  Potter,  who  had  been  practicing  there 
four  years,  had,  in  this  year,  moved  to  Gorham,  leaving  the 
field  entirely  open.  Mr.  Cutler  entered  under  favorable 
circumstances:  he  was  a  well-read  lawyer,  an  agreeable 
speaker,  and  a  man  of  fine  person  and  manners.  He  became 
very  popular,  not  only  in  the  town  but  in  the  adjoining  coun- 
try, and  at  the  shire-town.  He  had  not  been  three  years  in 
the  place  Ijcfore  he  was  elected  to  represent  the  town  in  the 
Legislature,  and  was  re-elected  the  two  following  years,  1809 
and  1810.  During  this  brief  period,  he  distinguished  him- 
self as  an  excellent  debater,  and  would  have  made  a  figure 
in  political  life,  as  well  as  at  the  bar,  as  a  lawyer  and  advo- 
cate, had  he  not  been  cut  down  in  the  midst  of  usefulness 
and  the  prime  of  life,  by  a  pulmonary  complaint,  which  ter- 
minated his  days  in  August,  181-3,  at  the  age  of  thirty-three 
years. 


478         ELISHA  r.  CUTLER  :  FREDERIC  ALLEN. 

Mr.  Ilopkins,  his  contemporary  at  the  bar,  and  his  friend, 
in  an  address  to  the  Cumberland  Bar  twenty  years  after- 
wards, thus  speaks  of  this  worthy  gentleman :  "  Mr.  Cutler 
was  a  good  lawyer,  and  had  just  begun  to  distinguish  him- 
self as  an  able  advocate.  Few  gentlemen  have  entered  into 
the  practice  with  a  fairer  prospect  of  usefulness  and  of  emi- 
nence. And  he  was  equally  respected  in  private  life :  he 
was  popular  in  his  place  of  residence.  Mr.  Cutler  was, 
in  his  principles  and  deportment,  firm,  manly,  and  inde- 
pendent. His  integrity,  outward  circumstances  had  never 
shaken  ;  and  I  believe  it  may  be  said,  they  would  have  no 
power  to  shake  it.  He  never  sought  popularity :  it  sought 
him ;  and  he  died  in  full  possession  of  the  confidence,  and 
of  the  high  esteem  of  all  who  knew  him." 

In  1811,  he  married  Elizabeth,  daughter  of  Capt.  Judah 
Delano  of  Portland,  who  came  from  Plymouth,  Massachu- 
setts. By  her  he  had  one  son,  who  bears  his  father's  name, 
and  is  a  merchant  in  Boston.  His  widow  still  lives,  having 
married,  for  her  second  husband,  Josiah  W.  Mitchell  of 
Freeport,  a  lawyer,  and  a  friend  of  Mr.  Cutler,  by  whom 
she  has  had  a  large  family  of  children. 

FREDERIC     ALLEN.      1805  — 

Among  the  early  and  eminent  lawyers  of  Kennebec  County, 
was  Frederic  Allen  of  Gardiner,  who  happily  still  lives,  1862, 
to  reflect  back  upon  the  half  century  of  his  honorable  and 
prosperous  practice,  the  genial  light  of  his  recollections  and 
careful  observation.  He  was  born  in  Chilmark,  on  Martha's 
Vineyard,  where  his  ancestor,  James  Allen,  settled,  in  1G68, 
having  become  the  proprietor  of  the  Manor  of  Tisbury,  con- 
taining two  thousand  acres  purchased  by  him  of  the  sachem 
of  tlie  island.  The  wife  of  James  was  Elizaljcth  Perkins, 
by  whom  he  had  numerous  children,  two  of  whom,  daugh- 


*"/^ 


'< 


<^2H^     ^^ 


'^-^^^C^uy 


AT  THE    AGE  O  F  50 


FREDERIC   ALLEN.  479 

tcrs,  were  born  in  1GC5  and  1GC7,  at  Sandwich,  Massachu- 
setts, where  he  first  settled.  The  accurate  and  indefatigable 
Savage  supposes  this  James  may  have  been  the  son  of  George, 
who  is  found  in  Lynn,  Massachusetts,  in  1G36,  and  the  next 
year  in  Sandwich.  He  moved  to  Tisbury  in  1668,  where  he 
had  eight  children,  and  died,  in  1714,  aged  seventy-seven. 
His  son  John,  born  in  1680,  married,  in  1716,  Margaret 
Homes,  daughter  of  the  Rev.  William  Homes  of  Martha's 
Vineyard,  a  Presbyterian  minister  of  the  Scotch-Irish  stock, 
who  was  settled  in  Chilmark  in  1715,  and  whose  descend- 
ants are  numerous.  By  her,  he  had  five  sons  and  three 
daughters.  The  second  son,  Jonathan,  was  educated  at 
Harvard  College,  from  which  he  took  his  degree  in  1757, 
and  became  a  lawyer,  to  the  practice  of  which,  his  father  had 
given  some  attention,  and  a  portion  of  whose  law  books,  as 
well  as  those  of  his  son,  are  now,  as  heir-looms,  in  the  hands 
of  the  subject  of  our  sketch.  He  married  Deborah  Gardi- 
ner of  Newport,  a  descendant  of  Joseph  Gardiner,  one  of 
the  first  settlers  of  Narragansct  in  Rhode  Island,  by  whom 
he  had  five  sons  and  two  daughters,  and  died  in  1783. 
Frederic,  the  youngest  of  the  sons,  was  born  in  1780.  He 
is  thus  in  the  fourth  degree  from  the  first  James  of  Martha's 
Vineyard,  through  John  and  his  wife,  Martha  Homes ; 
and  Jonathan  and  his  wife,  Deborah  Gardiner,  by  which 
marriage  and  his  own  he  has  a  twofold  connection  with 
the  family  of  Dr.  Sylvester  Gardiner,  who  was,  for  many 
years,  a  large  proprietor  of  lands  in  ]\[aine,  and  a  liberal 
benefactor  to  her  religious  and  educational  institutions, —  a 
practice  which  his  grandson,  Robert  IlallowcU  Gardiner  of 
Gardiner,  has  not  forgotten  to  exercise. 

Mr.  Allen's  father  died  when  he  was  but  three  years  old, 
by  which  he  was  deprived  of  the  guidancc'and  the  education 
which  the  father  was  competent  to  give,  having  himself 
received  the  advantages  of  Harvard,  and  a  regular  legal 


480  FREDERIC    ALLEN. 

training.  The  Aliens  seemed  to  have  taken  to  Harvard  Col- 
lege in  a  remarkable  degree  :  I  find  the  number  l)orne  on 
its  catalogue  of  1860,  to  be  forty-three,  of  whom  nineteen 
were  in  the  last  century,  having  but  seven  names  larger ; 
viz., Williams, eighty-six  ;  Smith, eighty-four;  Adams, eighty- 
two;  Parker,  sixty-six;  Brown,  fifty-six;  Rogers  and  Russell, 
forty-five  each.  The  name  is  also  among  the  highest  on  the 
Bowdoin  catalogue,  containing  nineteen.  Smith  only  exceed- 
ing it.  Mr.  Allen,  by  the  circumstances  of  his  family,  was 
deprived  of  these  advantages,  and  was  obliged  to  avail  him- 
self, in  the  intervals  of  labor,  of  such  instruction  as  he  could 
obtain  at  Chilmark,  aided  by  his  brother,  Homes  Allen,  and 
his  brother-in-law.  Dr.  Allen  May  hew.  At  an  early  age,  he 
came  to  Maine,  where  his  sister,  the  wife  of  Dr.  Tupper, 
lived,  at  the  head  of  Swan  Island,  and  was  a  clerk  in  a  store. 
On  his  return,  about  the  age  of  eighteen,  he  entered  the 
office  of  his  brother  Homes,  who  was  a  practicing  lawyer  in 
Barnstable,  and  a  gentleman  of  great  ability  and  promise, 
but  who  died  at  the  early  age  of  thirty-four.  After  spend- 
ing two  years  with  his  brother,  he  went  to  the  office  of  Ben- 
jamin Whitman,  who  then  resided  in  Hanover,  Massachu- 
setts,—  a  very  eccentric  gentleman,  whose  peculiar  appear- 
ance, with  a  squint  in  one  eye,  and  his  nankin  breeches,  used 
to  attract  my  attention  when  a  student  in  Boston.  He  had 
considerable  practice  in  the  country,  and  hoped  to  extend  it 
by  moving  to  Boston.  Mr.  Allen  accompanied  him  to  that 
city,  and  has  often  remarked  that  the  six  months  which  he 
spent  there  were  more  profitable  to  him  than  any  other  por- 
tion of  his  studies,  as  he  had  an  opportunity  of  attending 
the  courts,  and  seeing  and  hearing  the  great  lights  of  juris- 
prudence which  then  adorned  the  Suffolk  Bar :  these  were 
Sullivan,  Parsons,  Lowell,  Dexter,  Gore,  Fisher  Ames, 
Otis,  «fcc. 

On  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  Mr.  Alien,  like  other  enter- 


FREDERIC   ALLEN.  481 

prising  young  men,  looked  to  the  new  and  growing  district 
of  Maine  as  furnishing  a  prospect  of  the  most  speedy  advance 
in  the  profession ;  and,  coming  into  it,  he  stopped  first  at 
New  Gloucester,  to  seek  the  advice  and  aid  of  Judge  Whit- 
man. He  accompanied  him  to  Windham  and  other  neigh- 
boring towns,  but  not  being  particularly  satisfied  with  these 
places,  he  proceeded  to  Waldoborougli,  and  there  pitched  his 
tent,  in  1805.  Waldoborougli  had  been  a  half  shiretown, 
from  178G  to  1800,  wlien  the  courts  were  moved  to  Wiscas- 
set.  It  had  no  lawyer  at  the  time  Mr.  Allen  went  there, 
and  we  have  no  evidence  of  there  having  been  any  after  the 
death  of  Roland  Gushing,  in  1789.  The  population,  about 
two  thousand,  was  largely  of  German  descent,  and  the  town 
was  flourishing :  it  now  has  a  large  commercial  marine,  and 
a  population  of  four  thousand  five  hundred  and  sixty-nine. 
But  ]\Ir.  Allen  was  scarcely  initiated  in  business  when  he 
had  an  encouraging  offer  from  Nathan  Bridge  of  Gardiner 
to  form  a  partnership  with  him.  This  he  concluded  to 
accept,  and  moved  to  Gardiner  in  1808  :  his  connection  with 
the  Gardiners,  established  there  and  owning  large  estates, 
proba1)ly  afforded  an  additional  inducement.  This  was  ever 
after  the  place  of  his  residence. 

Mr.  Bridge  was  no  advocate,  and  not  much  of  a  lawyer ; 
but  he  had  large  transactions  for  absent  landed  proprietors, 
for  whom  he  was  a  faithful  agent.  Mr.  Allen  heartily 
engaged  in  the  business,  attending  the  courts  and  managing 
his  causes  with  skill  and  legal  accuracy,  while  the  out-door 
work  was  done  by  Bridge.  The  latter,  however,  withdrew 
gradually  from  the  duties  of  the  profession,  which  were  not 
agreeable  to  him,  and  in  three  or  four  years  after  the  com- 
mencement of  the  partnership,  left  it  entirely.  Mr.  Allen 
secured,  by  his  good  management,  the  business  of  the  firm, 
and  continually  gained  new :  he  was  a  diligent  student,  a 
careful  and  accurate  lawyer ;  and,  although  not  what  would 


482  FREDERIC   ALLEN. 

be  called  eloquent,  he  presented  his  cases  clearly  and  urged 
them  strongly  upon ^ the  attention  of  the  jury.  His  argu- 
ments to  the  court  were  sound  and  forcible,  and  had  great 
weight  from  the  perspicuity  of  his  statement,  and  the  force 
of  his  logic.  He  did  not  deal  in  rhetoric,  nor  was  he  in  the 
habit  of  employing  the  graces  of  style ;  but  he  went  directly 
to  the  points  in  issue,  and  threw  upon  them  the  strong  light 
of  authority  and  illustration.  His  practice  extended  from 
his  own  county  into  Lincoln,  Somerset,  Franklin,  and  all 
the  eastern  counties,  where,  after  Judge  Wilde  left  the  bar, 
he  had  for  competitors.  Bond,  Rcuel  Williams,  Boutellc, 
Orr,  Sprague,  Belcher,  and  George  Evans.  As  the  elders  of 
these  died,  or  retired  from  the  practice,  he  rose  to  the  head 
of  the  profession  in  those  counties,  where  he  devoted  him- 
self through  near  fifty  years  to  the  stern  and  wearing  labors 
of  a  responsible  and  arduous  profession.  He  did  not  even 
indulge  himself  in  the  recreation  of  politics,  which  has  fas- 
cinated so  many  lawyers,  and  led  them  into  labyrinths  that 
have  bewildered  them  from  the  quiet  and  peaceful  pursuits 
of  professional  life. 

After  the  separation  of  Maine  from  Massachusetts,  his 
business  rapidly  increased,  and  carried  him  into  all  the  coun- 
ties of  the  State  east  of  Cumberland.  It  seemed  surprising, 
that  with  so  few  adventitious  charms  of  oratory,  he  should 
have  acquired  such  an  extensive  business  ;  and  we  can  at- 
tribute it  only  to  the  faithfulness  and  zeal  with  which  he  de- 
voted himself  to  his  clients'  interest,  his  sound  knowledge 
of  law,  and  his  integrity  and  strictly  honorable  practice. 
The  manner  of  his  arguments  and  addresses  was  dry  and 
somewhat  desultory  ;  but,  as  one  of  his  contemporaries  has 
observed,  he  would  get  the  whole  case  out,  and  make 
the  jury  comprehend  it,  althougli  in  a  way  peculiar  to  him- 
self. Sometimes  he  would  rise  into  a  flight  of  eloquence, 
but  this  was  exceptional,  and  sometimes  a  joke  or  anecdote 


FREDERIC   ALLEN.  483 

would  come  from  him  exceedingly  apt  and  effective,  and  the 
more  so  because  not  common.  He  was  persevering  and  te- 
nacious, understood  his  case,  and  worked  till  he  made  others 
understand  it.  We  must  award  to  him,  looking  to  his  long 
course  of  successful  practice,  and  tlie  high  reputation  he 
obtained,  the  praise  of  the  "  Good  Advocate,"  who  "  finds 
God's  blessing  on  his  provisions  and  posterity."  Mr.  Allen, 
in  1820,  received  from  Bowdoin  College  tlie  honorary  degree 
of  A.  M.,  and  in  1847,  the  more  distinguished  and  deserved 
honor  of  LL.  D.  He  is  and  has  been  for  some  years  one  of 
the  overseers  of  the  college. 

Another  branch  of  the  Aliens  of  Martha's  Vineyard  came 
into  Maine  at  the  close  of  the  last  century, — William  Allen, 
who  settled  with  his  family  in  a  log  cabin  in  the  town  of 
Industry.      His  son  William,  now  of  Norridgewock,  and 
well  known  throughout  that  region  of  country  as  William 
Allen,  Jr.,  an  ample  promoter  of  good  works,  was  born  on 
the  Tisbury  manor  in  1780,  the  same  year  which  gave  birth 
to  his  kinsman  of  whom  we  have  been  speaking.     Before 
we  close  our  sketches,  we  shall  have  more  to  say  of  this 
early  clerk  of  the  courts  of  Somerset,  and  valuable  citizen. 
Another  relative  of  Frederic,  a  sister,  much  older  than  him- 
self, came  to  the  Kennebec  before  the  Revolution  with  her 
husband,  Dr.  Tupper  of  the  old  Vineyard.     They  settled 
on  a  farm  at  the  head  of  Swan  Island  on  the  Kennebec 
River.     He  was  quite  an  eccentric  character :  ])eing  in  the 
midst  of  a  timber  country,  he  conceived  the  idea  of  con- 
structing a  raft  of  timber  sufficiently  compact  and  strong  to 
be  transported  across  the  ocean.     Having  obtained  the  aid 
of  some  persons  of  wealth  in  Boston,  he  commenced  his 
raft  in  front  of  his  house  on  the  river.     He  piled  the  timber, 
stick  upon  stick,  into  a  solid  mass,  shaped  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible in  the  form  of  a  vessel.     She  was  rigged  as  a  ship,  and 
taken  to  Boston,  before  proceeding  on   her  voyage.     She 


484  FREDERIC  ALLEN  :  DR.  TUrPER. 

excited  great  attention  in  that  place.  Mr.  Gardiner  informs 
me  that  he  visited  her  with  other  boys  who  joined  the  crowd 
of  curious  spectators.  Dr.  Tapper  proposed  to  go  to  Liver- 
pool in  her  himself ;  but  his  partners  dissuaded  him;  and, 
being  highly  insured,  she  left  the  harbor  for  her  adventurous 
voyage,  amidst  the  apprehensions  and  conflicting  opinions 
of  the  people.  She  never  reached  her  destination  :  she  was 
abandoned  by  her  crew  off  the  coast  of  Labrador,  and  as 
she  was  afterwards  discovered,  in  good  order,  and  with  a 
plentiful  supply  of  provisions,  it  was  suspected  that  her 
desertion  was  fraudulent,  and  without  sufficient  cause. 
Mr.  Gardiner,  who  furnished  me  with  this  anecdote,  ob- 
served, that  two  other  similar  attempts  were  made  some 
years  afterwards,  and  both  vessels  went  safely  across  the 
ocean,  but  were  foundered  on  the  coast  of  England,  with 
the  same  suspicion  of  fraud  as  attached  to  tlie  other  case. 

Dr.  Tupper  was  very  peculiar  in  his  religious  views,  as 
well  as  in  some  of  his  temporal  concerns.  He  was  a  high- 
toned  Federalist,  and  joined  to  the  full  in  all  the  measures 
of  that  party.  He  one  day  visited  the  office  of  Mr.  Glazier, 
the  publisher  of  the  Hallowell  Gazette,  a  warm  Federal 
paper,  and  said  to  him,  "  Mr.  Glazier,  I  advise  you  not  to 
publish  your  paper  any  more."  "  Why  so  ?  "  said  Mr.  G. ; 
"  I  am  doing  very  well  —  have  a  good  list  of  subscribers, 
and  my  paper  is  well  received."  "  Yes,"  said  Dr.  Tupper, 
"  but  you  know  that  in  heaven  people  follow  the  same  busi- 
ness in  which  they  have  been  employed  here,  and  a  Federal 
newspaper  will  never  be  tolerated  in  that  place." 

Mr.  Allen  himself  had  some  eccentricities  of  character : 
he  was  often  absent-minded  :  sometimes  in  his  office,  in  tlie 
midst  of  deep  study,  ho  would  suddenly  jump  up,  thrust 
his  hands  into  his  pockets,  move  rapidly  about  the  room, 
and  ]n-eak  out  on  topics  wholly  irrelevant  to  tliose  whicli 
had,  apparently,  been  engaging  his  attention.     lie  has  been 


FREDERIC    ALLEN.  485 

known  to  arise  from  his  bed  at  night,  and  go  to  his  office, 
examine  a  law  Ijook,  and  return  to  his  ]jcd  again.  But  tliis 
may  have  been  a  ruling  passion,  rather  than  an  eccen- 
tricity,—  the  effect  of  deep  study  and  abstraction, 

Mr.  Allen  was  a  good  citizen,  a  good  neighbor ;  just  and 
honorable  in  all  his  dealings  ;  genial  and  social  in  his  inter- 
course with  society,  and  an  honor  to  the  profession  which 
his  whole  life  has  richly  illustrated.  His  peculiarities,  his 
absent-mindedness,  may  be  attributed  to  an  abstraction 
occasioned  by  a  too  exclusive  confinement  to  professional 
duties  :  he  read  and  thought  and  meditated  on  law,  until  he 
became  absorbed  in  it  to  the  exclusion  of  other  objects, 
which,  if  indulged  in,  would  have  given  a  more  perfect 
finish  to  the  fullness  of  his  character. 

In  1859,  Mr.  Allen  prepared  for  the  Maine  Historical  So- 
ciety, sketches  of  the  early  lawyers  in  Lincoln  and  Kennebec 
Counties,  containing  reminiscences  of  his  contemporaries. 
A  portion  of  this  was  read  at  a  meeting  of  the  society,  and 
the  paper  forms  an  interesting  article  of  the  sixth  volume 
of  its  collections.  In  the  editor's  introduction  to  the  paper, 
it  is  observed :  "  Mr.  Allen  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
society  in  the  year  of  its  incorporation,  1822.  It  is  a  grace- 
ful act  of  his  ripened  years,  to  revive  the  memories  of  the 
able  predecessors  and  contemporaries  who  have  dignified 
with  him  the  same  field  of  arduous  and  useful  labor. 
Among  his  competitors  at  the  bar,  were  the  late  judges, 
Bridge,  Wilde,  Bailey,  and  Crosby  ;  Samuel  Thatcher,  Bond, 
Eeucl  Williams,  Lee,  Boutelle,  John  Wilson,  Orr,  Pcleo- 
Sprague,  and  George  Evans :  of  whom,  besides  himself,' 
Thatcher,  Sprague,  and  Evans  only  survive."  We  may  add 
the  names  of  McGaw  and  William  Abbot  of  the  Penobscot 
Bar :  the  former  still  lives  at  Bangor,  of  the  same  age  with 
Mr.  Allen. 
In  1812,  Mr.  Allen  married  Hannah  Bowon,  a  daughter 


486  FREDERIC   ALLEN  :   OLIVER   WHIPPLE. 

of  Oliver  Whipple  of  Portsmoiitli,  New  nampsliirc,  and  a 
grand-daughter  of  Dr.  Sylvester  Gardiner.  Mr.  Whipple 
was  a  native  of  Rhode  Island  :  he  graduated  at  Harvard 
College  in  17G6,  and  settled  at  Portsmouth  in  the  practice 
of  law.  His  professional  engagements  often  led  him  into 
Maine ;  and  during  and  after  the  Revolution,  his  employ- 
ment as  the  agent  and  attorney  of  Dr.  Gardiner,  and  of  his 
executors,  required  his  frequent  presence  in  the  courts  of 
Lincoln  and  York  Counties.  Just  previous  to  the  Revolu- 
tion, Mr.  Whipple  married  Abigail,  the  sixth  child  of  Dr. 
Gardiner  ;  and  as  the  family  was  distinguished  in  Boston  for 
wealth  and  social  position,  the  occasion  was  made  one  of 
considerable  notoriety.  We  have  happened  to  see  a  list  of 
the  wedding  calls  for  the  three  or  four  days  after  the  mar- 
riage ;  and  as  some  of  the  names  are  of  historical  interest, 
I  will  introduce  a  few  of  them :  these  were,  Admiral  Graves 
and  his  lady ;  the  Hallowells  ;  the  Lechmeres  ;  Capt.  Mon- 
tressor,  his  wife  and  daughter ;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Vassal ;  Sec- 
retary Fluker,  the  father  of  Mrs.  General  Knox ;  General 
Gage  and  his  aids  ;  Mr.  Pepperell,  Mr.  Whipple's  classmate, 
afterwards  Sir  William,  and  his  wife  ;  Miss  Auchmuty,  and 
Colonel  Waldron.  These  are  sufficient  to  indicate  the 
standing  of  the  family  in  the  society  of  the  then  most  aris- 
tocratic city  in  the  colonies. 

All  the  persons  we  have  named  above  were  loyalists,  in 
which  party  were  Dr.  Gardiner  and  most  of  his  family  and 
acquaintances.  There  was,  however,  one  striking  excep- 
tion, and  that  was  the  doctor's  son  John,  afterwards  the 
eminent  barrister  in  Maine,  a  memoir  of  whom  appears  in 
preceding  pages.  We  may  be  pardoned,  if,  to  show  this 
fact,  we  introduce  here  an  extract  of  a  letter  written  by 
him  to  his  father  from  St.  Kitts,  January  18,  1783,  just  pre- 
vious to  his  return  to  Boston,  —  his  father  being  then  a 
refugee  in  England.     He  says,  "  I  am  a  staunch,  thorough, 


FREDERIC   ALLEN  :   OLIVER  WHIPPLE.  487 

Revolution  Whig,  you  know,  and  abhor  all  king-craft  and 
priest-craft.  Such  have  been  my  principles  since  I  could 
judge  for  myself;  and  such,  I  trust,  will  be  the  principles 
I  shall  carry  with  me  to  the  grave.  I  have,  however,  borne 
a  place  here  under  his  most  christian  majesty,  which  I  have 
discharged  the  duties  of  with  the  utmost  fidelity  and  integ- 
rity, and  without  the  least  view  to  gain ;  and  in  such  a 
manner  as  I  would  have  served  his  Britannick  Majesty,  had 
I  been  entrusted.  And  it  is  with  gratitude  I  mention  it,  I 
have  received  every  protection  and  every  mark  of  friendship 
from  his  Excellency,  Count  Dillon,  and  the  French  officers 
here,  insomuch  so  that  time  shall  not  obliterate  my  regards 
to  them." 

St.  Kitts  was  alternately  in  the  possession  of  the  French 
and  English,  until  it  was  ceded  to  the  English  in  the  peace 
of  1783. 

Mr.  Whipple  died  suddenly  at  Washington,  of  apoplexy, 
in  1818.  Ilis  wife  was  the  sister  of  Hannah,  the  wife  of 
Benjamin  Hallo  well,  who  was  the  mother  of  Robert  Hal- 
lowell  Gardiner,  our  respected  fellow  citizen,  now  enjoying, 
in  the  town  of  Gardiner,  a  ripe,  hale,  and  serene  old  age. 

Mr.  Updike,  the  historian  of  Narraganset,  in  a  recent 
letter  to  Miss  Allen,  daughter  of  Frederic  Allen,  thus  speaks 
of  Mr.  Whipple :  "  I  knew  your  grandfather,  Col.  Oliver 
Whipple,  well.  He  was  a  fine  looking  and  accomplished 
gentleman,  with  a  highly  expressive  countenance  :  he  was 
six  feet  in  height  or  very  near  it,  erect  and  straight :  he  was 
corpulent,  and  in  manner  dignified  and  courteous :  his 
society  was  always  agreeable  and  interesting.  He  was 
grand  master  of  the  Masons  in  New  Hampshire." 

By  the  marriage  of  Mr.  Allen  with  ^Miss  Whipple,  he  had 
three  sons  and  three  daughters.  Two  of  the  sons,  Charles 
Edward  and  Augustus  Oliver,  graduated  at  Bowdoin  Col- 
lege in  1835  and  1848,  and  are  lawyers  in  Boston.     His 


488  FREDERIC    ALLEN:    WILLIAM   B.    SEWALL. 

oldest  son,  Freck  liaving  received  his  medical  education 
at  Harvard,  died  r.  1840,  at  the  entrance  of  his  profession. 
His  daughter  Eleanor  married  Dr.  Martin  Gay  of  Boston, 
and  died  in  1858.  The  other  two  daughters  reside  in  Gar- 
diner. Mr.  Allen's  wife  was  a  lady  of  talents,  cultivation, 
and  taste.  She  died  a  few  years  since,  leaving  her  compan- 
ion of  many  years,  to  pursue  liis  solitary  way  alone  ;  and 
yet  not  alone,  for  his  path  is  still  liglited  by  his  own  genial 
disposition  and  the  kind  attentions  of  children  and  friends. 

WILLIAM    BARTLETT    SEWALL.      180G  — 

No  name  was  more  familiar  and  honored  at  the  bar,  and 
in  the  courts  of  Massachusetts  and  Maine,  for  more  than  a 
century,  than  was  that  of  Seiva/L  From  1G92  to  1819,  —  a 
period  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-six  years,  —  one  of  the 
family  had  a  seat  upon  the  bench  of  the  highest  courts  for 
one  hundred  years,  about  twenty-five  of  whicli,  as  a  chief 
justice :  these  were,  Samuel,  Stephen,  David,  and  Samuel, 
all  descendants  from  Henry,  the  first  American  ancestor, 
who  came  to  Newbury,  in  Massachusetts,  from  Coventry, 
England,  in  1G34.  Beside  these,  were  Jonathan,  attorney 
general,  before  the  Eevolution,  and  Daniel  and  Henry,  in 
this  State,  clerks,  time  out  of  mind.  They  seem  to  have  had 
a  prescriptive  right  to  the  bench  and  bar,  and  places  in 
court.  Nor  were  they  much  less  prominent  in  the  church, 
whose  pulpits  they  have  filled  with  eminence,  all  along  the 
course  of  our  history.  Few  names  in  our  annals  have 
had  higher  rank  and  distinction  than  theirs. 

William  B.  Sewall,  the  subject  of  this  notice,  was  the 
only  son  of  Daniel  Sewall,  the  time-honored  clerk  of  the 
courts  in  York  County,  who  descended  from  the  first  Henry 
through  his  second  son,  John  :  he  was  born  in  York,  as  he 
humorously  said,  "  about  2  o'clock,  A.  M.,  according  to  the 


#^ 


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'y^?'^t-<-^     ^<t<^ 


<^^^.   5^^^^ 
=^-^ 


<^o 


At  li-Le  age  of  80. 


WILLIAM   B.    SEWALL.  489 

l)i3st  of  my  recollection  and  belief,  December  18,  1782."  His 
mother  was  Dorcas  Bartlett,  daughter  of  John  H.  Bartlett 
of  Kitterj.  Of  his  father  I  will  not  say  more  at  present, 
because  I  intend  to  devote  a  distinct  article  to  him,  in  con- 
nection with  the  ancient  clerks. 

At  the  time  Mr.  Sewall  was  obtaining  the  rudiments  of 
knowledge,  a  grammar  school  was  kept,  the  principal  part 
of  the  year,  in  the  central  district  of  the  village  of  York, 
although  not  always  by  a  college  graduate.  To  this  school, 
Mr.  Sewall  was  sent.  When  he  began  to  fit  for  college,  he 
commenced  the  "  Latin  Accidence,"  under  the  guidance  of 
Nymphas  Hatch,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  the  class  of 
1797  :  Mr.  Hatch  afterwards  became  a  clergyman,  and  died 
in  1850.  Hatch  left  before  young  Sewall  had  made  much 
progress,  and  he  completed  his  studies  under  direction  of 
Mr.  Briggs,  the  minister  of  the  parish,  who  offered  his 
pupil  for  admission  to  Harvard  College  in  1799.  In  regard 
to  this  village  school,  Mr.  Sewall  remarked,  "  It  has  been 
privileged  with  some  of  the  most  distinguished  teachers  of 
their  day  or  any  other :  Prof.  Cleavcland  was  one  ;  and  his 
successor,  Mr.  N.  Lord,  afterwards  Register  of  Probate  of 
Essex  County,  may  be  named  as  another :  they  were  remem- 
bered with  gratitude  by  all  who  enjoyed  the  privilege  of 
their  instructions." 

Mr.  Sewall  pursued  his  studies  in  college  with  diligence 
and  success :  his  classmates  were  young  men  of  ambition 
and  ability :  their  names  will  not  soon  die :  among  them 
were, —  Benjamin  Ames,  well  known  in  Maine  forty  years 
ago  ;  Dr.  Asa  Eaton  of  Salem  Street  Church,  Boston,  whose 
venerable  appearance  in  the  latter  part  of  his  life  attracted 
universal  attention  —  ho  died  in  1858  ;  Prof.  John  Farrar 
of  Harvard  College  ;  Rev.  Nathan  Parker  of  Portsmouth ; 
Rev.  Dr.  Payson  of  I'ortland ;  James  Savage  of  Boston, 
whose  works  will  live  after  him ;  and  the  good  and  venerable 

32 


490  WILLIAM   B.   SEWALL. 

Samuel  Willard,  D.  D.,  of  Dccrficld.  Savage  had  the  first 
part  at  Commencement,  an  English  oration :  the  subject  was, 
*'  The  Patronage  of  Genius."  Ames  and  Payson  had  a  con- 
ference with  Lewis  Strong  ;  Daniel  Waldo  Lincoln,  a  poem  ; 
Farrar,  an  English  dissertation. 

In  competition  with  such  men,  the  dullest  wit  might  be 
quickened,  and  the  quickest  sharpened.  Ames,  Eaton,  Far- 
rar, Parker,  Savage,  Sewall,  and  Willard  were  among  the 
seventeen  who  were  deemed  worthy  of  membership  in  the 
Phi-Beta-Kappa  Society,  and  of  course  must  have  had  a 
good  college  rank. 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Sewall,  determining  on  the  law 
as  his  profession,  and  naturally  enough,  for  his  father, 
being  register  of  probate  and  clerk  of  the  courts,  and 
who  also  practiced  law  himself,  was  steeped  in  legal 
forms  and  proceedings,  wisely  selected  the  office  of 
the  eminent  jurist,  Isaac  Parker,  at  Portland,  in  which  to 
pursue  his  studies.  He  says,  "  When  I  went  to  Portland 
in  December,  1803,  the  students  in  Judge  Parker's  office 
were, — Samuel  D.  Freeman,  John  Wadsworth,  and  James 
Savage  :  Freeman  was,  for  the  most  part,  with  his  father  in 
office  business ;  and  Wadsworth  was  absent  considerably 
from  ill  health,  part  of  the  time  at  Wasliington,  his  father 
being  representative  from  Cumberland.  In  1804,  Abraham 
Eustis  was  added  to  our  number  ;  and  not  long  afterwards, 
Lemuel  Bryant,  a  nephew  of  Major  Weeks,  began  his  term 
of  five  years.  We  were  all  dispersed  by  the  appointment  of 
Judge  Parker  to  the  Supreme  Court,  in  February,  1806. 
Eustis  went  to  Boston,  and  was  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Gore, 
but  was  appointed  a  captain  in  the  United  States  Artillery, 
before,  I  believe,  he  had  completed  the  term  of  office-study, — 
certainly,  he  never  entered  on  the  practice.  Bryant  after- 
wards went  into  trading  l)usiness.  Wadsworth  was  admitted 
to  the  bar,  and  had  an  office  in  Portland,  in  1808  or  1809  :  he 


^^LLIAM   B.   SEWALL.  491 

afterwards  moved  to  Hiram,  where  lie  died  in  1860.  When 
I  first  went  to  Portland,  Mr.  Parker's  office  was  in  the  upper 
story  of  a  wooden  building  on  Fish  Street,  belonging  to  Mr. 
Widgery,  in  a  place  where  Neal  kept  an  insurance  office 
below.  Soon  afterwards,  he  removed  to  the  then  new  brick 
building,  so  long  occupied  as  a  custom  house,  insurance 
office,  (fee, —  now  Cumberland  Bank,  Lowell  &  Senter's, 
<fec."  He  adds,  "  Horatio  Southgate,  James  C.  Jcwett,  and 
Woodbury  Storer,  Jr.,  were,  I  think,  admitted  before  I  went 
to  Portland.  Bray  came  from  Connecticut,  and  was  a  short 
time  in  Symmes's  office,  before  being  allowed  to  practice  in 
this  State  :  he  was  in  practice  when  I  first  came,  in  Kellogg's 
building." 

Mr.  Sewall  was,  for  a  short  time,  in  the  office  of  Prentiss 
Mellon,  who  moved  to  Portland  from  Biddeford,  in  February, 
1800,  about  the  time  Judge  Parker  retired  from  the  bar  ; 
but  completed  his  studies  with  Edward  St.  Loe  Livermore, 
at  Xewburyport ;  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  the  Com- 
mon Pleas  in  Essex  County :  he  came  back  to  Portland, 
opened  an  office  there,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Supremo 
Court  in  Cumberland  County.  As  Mr.  Mellen  spent  much 
of  his  time  in  attending  the  courts  in  other  counties,  where 
his  reputation  as  an  advocate  gave  him  numerous  engage- 
ments, he  invited  Mr.  Sewall  into  his  office  as  a  partner. 
Here  he  devoted  himself  to  the  business  of  the  office,  while 
Mr.  Mellen  was  occupied  in  the  courts. 

Mr.  Sewall  was  a  good  lawyer,  had  a  clear  and  discrimi- 
nating mind,  and  had  great  accuracy  and  familiarity  with 
the  forms  of  practice,  and  the  art  of  conveyancing.  But 
his  extreme  dinidence  and  modesty  deterred  him  from 
making  any  exhibitions  in  court,  or  taking  any  position  as 
an  advocate.  Perhaps  the  circumstance  of  his  connection 
with  Mr.  Mellen,  in  the  early  years  of  his  practice,  restrained 
him  from  aiming  at,  or  acquiring  any  experience  as  an  advo- 


492  WILLIAM   B.    SEWALL. 

cate.  ]\rr.  Melleii  argued  all  his  own  causes,  as  well  as 
many  of  those  commenced  by  other  lawyers,  with  rare  zeal 
and  ability,  so  that  a  junior  partner  could  have  no  opportu- 
nity to  acquire  facility  in  tlie  art.  Experience  shows  us 
that  the  longer  one  has  been  at  the  bar  without  speaking  to 
a  jury,  the  more  difficult  it  is  to  open  his  mouth,  —  he 
becomes  startled  at  the  sound  of  his  own  voice,  while  the 
eyes  of  an  audience  are  pointed  steadily  at  him.  Ease  and 
facility  in  public  speaking  are  the  oifspring  of  practice  and 
habit.  Mr.  Sewall,  too,  had  great  delicacy  and  sensitive- 
ness of  taste :  nothing  commonplace  or  inferior  could  ever 
satisfy  the  demand  of  his  own  criticism  ;  and  this,  I  think, 
in  his  case,  as  well  as  in  that  of  many  other  young  lawyers, 
has  proved  an  embarrassment,  and  sometimes  an  insuperable 
one  to  excellence  as  an  orator.  I  would  not  say  of  Mr. 
Sewall,  as  Robert  Hall  once  said  of  a  very  timid  man,  "  Ho 
is  so  nervously  modest,  that  he  seems  to  be  always  asking 
pardon  of  everybody  for  being  in  the  world."  This  diffi- 
dence, 1  tliink,  is  natural  to  the  family  :  his  father  and  uncles 
Jotham  and  Henry  had  it ;  so  had  the  excellent  judge, 
David  Sewall,  and  the  wise  and  modest  chief  justice,  Samuel 
Sewall,  who  died  while  holding  court  at  Wiscasset,  in  1814. 
It  does  not  arise  from  lack  of  knowledge  so  much  as  an 
overfullness,  which,  as  in  Addison's  case,  finds  difficulty  of 
expression. 

Mr.  Sewall  was  a  scholar  and  a  ripe  one,  of  cultivated 
taste  and  fine  thought.  He  preferred  the  quiet  pursuits  of 
the  scholar  to  the  wrangles  of  the  bar,  and  devoted  much 
time  to  poetry  and  prose  composition,  which  illuminated 
the  columns  of  newspapers  and  periodicals.  In  connection 
with  the  wits  about  town.  Savage,  Payson,  Lear,  Davies, 
Deering,  Carter,  Wright,  and  others,  Portland  was  kept  in 
good  humor ;  and  the  "  Pilgrim,"  "  Prowler,"  "  Xight 
Hawk,"  and    "  Torpedo"   flashed  with  merriment,  which 


WILLIAM    B.    SEW  ALL.  493 

would  have  done  honor  to  the  "  Salmagundi,"  or  to^  the 
modern  "  Punch." 

When  he  came  to  Portland,  m  1803,  he  found  his  class- 
mates, Savage,  and  Payson,  afterwards  the  distinguished 
preacher,  but  at  that  time  preceptor  of  the  new  academy, 
pursuing  their  studies  there  ;  and  to  amuse  themselves,  they 
were  writing  a  scries  of  articles  in  the  "  Old  Portland  Ga- 
zette," then  edited  by  Isaac  Adams,  over  the  signature  of 
"  PUi^rim.''  Tliey  immediately  pressed  Sewall  into  the 
service,  and  he  became  a  joint  contributor  to  those  agree- 
able literary  productions,  which  instructed  and  amused  the 
town  ;  and  were  continued  until  Savage  was  called  away  by 
an  invitation  from  his  kinsman,  Mr.  Tudor,  to  go  to  the 
West  Indies,  and  assist  in  introducing  the  ice  business  into 
the  islands.  The  ^^  Proivler"  followed,  and  these  more 
formal  essays  were  interspersed  with  many  a  squib  and 
New  Year's  Hudibrastic  verses,  which  lightened  up  the  pro- 
saic columns  of  the  Gazette. 

Mr.  Sewall  had  a  great  fondness  for  mathematical  studies, 
which  he  pursued  to  a  large  extent  in  college,  and  was 
rewarded  for  his  attainments  in  that  branch,  by  an  assign- 
ment of  "  Exercises  in  Mathematics  and  Astronomy,"  at 
Commencement,  with  two  others  of  his  classmates,  Nathan 
Parker  and  Daniel  Swan.  This  taste  was  probably  imbibed 
in  early  life  from  his  father,  who  had  quite  a  genius  for 
mathematical  calculations,  which  manifested  itself  in  the 
preparation  of  almanacs  and  the  like  labors.  Both  father 
and  son  worked  much  in  that  line,  in  which  they  took,  pleas- 
ure and  made  great  proficiency.  The  son,  when  young, 
assisted  his  father  in  almanac-making ;  and  when  in  the 
practice  of  his  profession,  beguiled  tlie  leisure  time  in  pre- 
paring a  Register  for  Maine,  which  lie  published  several 
years  after  the  separation  from  ^lassachusetts.  In  connec- 
tion with  Judge   Bourne  of  Kenncbunk,  lie  prepared  the 


49-1  WILLIAM   B.    SEWALL. 

Kegistcr  of  Maine  for  1820.  This  being  the  first  published 
in  the  new  State,  was  very  full,  and  contained  a  vast  deal  of 
useful  information,  in  a  compact  form.  It  contained  a 
chronological  account  of  the  various  settlements  in  Maine 
from  the  earliest  time,  with  notice  of  early  grants,  Ac. ;  the 
act  of  separation,  the  new  constitution,  and  list  of  delegates 
to  the  convention ;  tariff  of  duties,  army  and  navy  register, 
besides  the  usual  matter  embraced  in  such  works.  He  con- 
tinued the  publication  of  the  Register  several  years ;  for  the 
labor,  care,  and  investigation  in  which,  the  sales  poorly 
compensated.  These  humble,  but  very  ^valuable  statistical 
works,  are  not  appreciated  in  their  day  so  much  as  they 
ought  to  be.  Nor  is  the  labor  and  skill  necessary  in  their 
preparation  sufficiently  estimated.  A  full  series  of  these 
works  is  invaluable  to  one  who  is  collecting  materials  for 
history,  or  who  desires  to  see  the  form  and  pressure  of  the 
times  long  gone  by. 

In  all  works  of  this  kind,  and  others,  involving  statistical 
habits  or  knowledge,  Mr.  Sewall  had  few  equals  among  us 
in  his  day :  what  he  did,  he  did  thoroughly  and  well ;  and 
he  was  constantly  busy  about  something  useful  or  amusing. 
He  was  one  or  two  years  secretary  of  the  Senate,  soon  after 
the  separation,  which  gave  him  facilities  in  his  favorite 
pursuit ;  and  he  was  afterwards  often  employed  by  members 
and  committees  to  draft  and  prepare  bills  and  other  papers 
to  be  laid  before  the  Legislature,  in  which  his  clear  and 
concise  method  rendered  him  a  model  worthy  of  all  imita- 
tion: it  would  have  promoted  the  accuracy  and  precision  of 
the  statutes  if  this  practice  had  been  continued. 

He  was  always  cheerful,  social,  and  often  gay  :  his  humor 
was  racy,  and  the  play  of  his  mind  was  lambent  and  genial. 
In  1819,  on  the  death  of  his  first  wife,  which  took  place  that 
year,  he  moved  to  Kennebunk,  and  re-occupied,  with  his 
aged  father  and  sisters,  the  old  homestead,     lie  assisted  his 


WILLIAM   B.   SEWALL:   SAMUEL   HUBBARD.  495 

father  in  the  duties  of  his  offices  as  clerk  and  register  of 
probate,  during  the  remainder  of  the  time  he  continued  to 
hold  tliem.  Afterwards,  in  1823,  he  returned  to  Portland, 
and  took  charge  of  the  editorial  department  of  the  Adver- 
tiser, which  he  continued  to  conduct  several  years,  and  to 
which  was  added  during  his  management  the  issue  of  the 
semi-weekly  edition.  In  1837,  he  went  back  to  Kennebunk, 
formed  a  second  matrimonial  connection  with  a  lady  of  that 
town,  practiced  law  moderately  as  opportunity  offered,  and 
Btill  enjoys,  at  the  mansion  of  his  late  honored  father,  with 
his  wife  and  a  sister,  the  calmness  and  serenity  which  wait 
on  a  genial  temper,  and  follow,  toward  its  setting,  a  life  of 
gentleness,  purity,  and  uniform  benignity.  He  has  no 
children. 

SAMUEL    HUBBARD.      1806  —  1810. 

Among  the  lawyers  who  'commenced  practice  in  Maine, 
and  afterwards  became  distinguished  in  Massachusetts,  was 
Samuel  Hubbard,  late  of  Boston.  Mr.  Hubbard  was  born 
in  Boston,  in  1785,  and  graduated  at  Yale  College,  in  1802, 
at  the  early  age  of  seventeen.  He  studied  his  profession  in 
New  Haven,  in  the  office  of  Judge  Chauncey,  for  two  years, 
and  completed  his  studies  with  Charles  Jackson,  the  eminent 
lawyer  and  judge  in  Boston.  On  being  admitted  to  the 
bar,  in  Suffolk  County,  he  embraced  the  favorable  opportu 
nity  offered  by  the  removal  of  Judge  Mellen  to  Portland 
from  Biddeford,  and  took  his  office  and  his  business  at  that 
place,  in  the  autumn  of  180G.  Judge  ]^[cllen  had  resided 
in  Biddeford  fourteen  years,  and  had  acquired  an  extensive 
practice,  —  said  to  have  been  worth  two  thousand  dollars  a 
year,  which  was  very  remunerative  for  those  days.  But 
this  was  accomplisbcd  in  part  l)y  his  reputation  as  an  advo- 
cate ;  and  which  a  young  lawyer,  but  tweuty-one  years  old, 


496  SAMUEL   HUBBARD. 

and  just  entering  practice,  could  not  expect  to  retain.  Mr. 
Hubbard  was,  however,  the  only  lawyer  in  the  town, 
although  in  the  flourishing  village  of  Saco,  on  the  other 
side  of  the  river,  there  were  three  attornics,  viz.,  Cyrus 
King,  the  eccentric  Joseph  Bartlett,  and  Jeremiah  Brad- 
bury. He  continued  there,  the  only  lawyer,  doing  a  suc- 
cessful business,  until  September,  1810,  when  ho  returned 
to  Boston. 

He  formed  in  that  place  a  connection  with  his  former 
teacher.  Judge  Jackson,  which  was  probably  the  induce- 
ment which  drew  liim  from  Maine.  This  continued  until 
the  appointment  of  Mr.  Jackson  to  the  bench,  in  1813. 
From  that  time,  he  had  a  full  and  extensive  practice,  taking 
an  honorable  position  among  the  eminent  lawyers  who,  for 
the  third  of  a  century  in  which  he  occupied  his  place  at  the 
bar,  came  in  competition  with  him  :  tliese  were, —  Prescott, 
Otis,  Shaw,  Sullivan,  and  Webster,  among  the  seniors  ;  Gal- 
lison,  Loring,  Dexter,  Fletcher,  and  Fuller,  among  the 
juniors.  After  a  long  course  of  a  first-class  practice,  in 
which  his  mind  had  become  thoroughly  disciplined  by  study 
and  forensic  conflicts,  he  was  elevated  to  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court,  in  1812,  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by 
the  death  of  Judge  Putnam. 

This  station  he  occupied  to  the  acceptance  of  the  bar  and 
the  community  until  his  death,  which  took  place  in  Boston, 
December  21,  1817,  at  the  age  of  sixty-two.  His  qualities 
as  a  lawyer  and  a  judge  are  thus  described  in  a  notice 
which  Chief  Justice  Shaw  took  of  his  death,  when  it  was 
announced  from  the  bar :  he  said,  "  As  a  counsellor  and 
advocate,  he  was  extensively  emjiloycd  and  trusted  ;  and  he 
devoted  himself  to  his  professional  duties  with  a  fidelity  and 
assiduity  which  showed  how  worthy  he  was  of  the  trust  re- 
posed in  him.  He  was  remarkable  among  his  contempora- 
ries for  his  power  of  patient  and  thorough  investigation, 


SAMUEL  HUBBARD.  497 

which  enabled  him  to  unravel  the  most  complicated  cases. 
*  *  *  His  mind  was  thoroughly  imbued  with  a  knowl- 
edge of  mercantile  law,  not  merely  the  municipal  law 
which  governs  one  State  or  one  country,  but  that  qualified 
international  law,  which,  for  general  convenience  and  almost 
by  general  consent,  governs  the  commercial  world.  *  *  * 
The  judicial  qualities  of  Judge  Hubbard,  during  the  few 
years  that  he  has  held  this  office,  have  been  too  conspicuous 
and  too  highly  appreciated  to  require  any  remarks  at  this 
time.  Coming  to  the  bench  in  the  full  maturity  of  his 
powers,  after  a  long  course  of  study  and  practice ;  thor- 
oughly acquainted  with  the  rules  and  princi];les  of  law,  in 
all  its  departments,  and  familiar  with  all  the  forms  of  pro- 
ceeding, he  needed  no  preparation,  but  was  ready  to  enter 
at  once  upon  the  duty  of  a  judge.  The  same  qualities  of 
mind,  the  same  acute  and  persevering  investigation,  which 
we  have  already  noticed,  were  brought  to  bear  here  with 
eminent  success." 

On  the  same  occasion,  Charles  G.  Loring,  an  eminent 
practitioner  of  the  Boston  Bar,  in  addressing  his  associates, 
observed, "  that  he  had  the  pleasure  of  completing  his  studies 
under  the  guidance  of  Judge  Hubbard,  and  entered  the 
forensic  arena  under  his  auspices,  as  his  associate  in  the 
profession  ;  and  how  grateful  and  refreshing  will  ever  be 
that  recollection  of  the  kind  manners,  the  honest  love 
of  truth,  and  gentleness  of  spirit  with  which  he  exercised 
liis  high  powers." 

Judge  Hubbard  occasionally  engaged  in  political  life, 
being  pressed  into  service  by  his  fellow  citizens  as  their  rep- 
resentative in  the  General  Court.  On  one  of  these  occa- 
sions, in  1838,  he  drew  a  report  relating  to  the  disastrous 
failure  of  the  Commonwealth  Bank,  witli  the  testimony  of 
witnesses  examined  by  the  legislative  committee ;  this  was 
a  sound  and  able  exposition  of  the  affairs  of  that  institution, 
and  of  banking  operations. 


498  SAMUEL   HUBBARD:    BENJAMIN   AMES. 

He  was  also  for  many  years  one  of  the  Board  of  Commis- 
sioners for  Foreign  Missions,  and  rendered  this  extensive 
and  important  cause  most  efficient  and  vahiablc  service. 
In  whatever  capacity  Judge  Hubbard  employed  his  powers, 
he  was  prompt,  able,  and  efi'cctivc.  He  was  active,  intelli- 
gent, and  conscientious.  His  private  life,  as  well  as  his 
public  career,  was  adorned  with  the  fruits  of  sound  relig- 
ious principle  :  his  profession  and  practice  were  blended  in 
harmonious  action  in  all  the  varied  relations  of  life. 

He  was  twice  married,  and  has  left  a  family  of  children  : 
his  first  wife  was  a  daughter  of  Gardner  Greene  of  Boston. 

His  merits  were  publicly  recognized  by  his  own  college, 
Yale,  and  also  by  Harvard,  in  bestowing  upon  him  the  honor- 
ary degree  of  Doctor  of  Laws ;  in  which  they  were  amply 
sustained  by  public  sentiment. 

BENJAMIN     AMES.      1806  —  1835. 

For  the  following  interesting  sketch  of  Mr.  Ames,  I  am 
indebted  to  John  H.  Sheppard  of  Boston,  who,  practicing  at 
the  same  bar,  had  abundant  opportunity  of  becoming  ac- 
quainted with  his  subject. 

Benjamin  Ames,  formerly  of  Bath,  was  born  in  Andover, 
Massachusetts,  October  30, 1778.  He  was  the  son  of  Benja- 
min Ames,  a  respectable  inn-holder  of  that  place  ;  and  the 
rank  to  which  he  rose  in  after  life,  so  far  from  disparage- 
ment on  account  of  his  humble  origin,  should  rather  reflect 
honor  on  his  character.  His  case  is  not  without  precedent : 
for  Macaulay  tells  us  ^  that  the  famous  Prior  "  passed  his 
boyhood  in  drawing  corks  at  a  tavern." 

Mr.  Ames  was  educated  at  Harvard  University,  which  he 
entered  late,  at  twenty-two  years  of  age,  and  graduated  in 

1  History  of  England,  vol.  v. 


BENJAMIN    AMES.  499 

1803.  One  of  his  classmates  described  him  to  the  writer  as 
a  student  of  correct  habits,  not  of  a  genial  temperament, 
always  plodding  over  his  book,  fond  of  logic  and  metaphysics, 
but  without  any  taste  for  the  classics  of  Greece  and  Rome. 
At  commencement,  he  had  one  of  the  higher  parts,  and  be- 
longed to  a  class  of  which  the  venerable  and  distinguished 
genealogist,  James  Savage,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  took  the  lead  in 
an  English  oration. 

He  studied  law  in  the  office  of  Samuel  Dana  of  Groton, 
Massachusetts,  —  a  man  of  note  in  that  day,  particularly  as 
a  zealous  partisan.  He  was  president  of  the  senate  two 
sessions,  and  afterwards  was  appointed  one  of  the  judges  of 
the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  This  gentleman  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  legislature,  when  the  election  of  Caleb  Strong, 
for  governor,  was  so  hotly  contested  ;  and  he  was  very  stren- 
uous and  urgent  to  reject  a  number  of  votes,  because  the  t, 
in  some  of  the  written  suffrages  for  Strong,  was  not  crossed. 
In  the  result,  however,  he  must  have  felt  the  force  of  my 
Lord  Coke's  adage,  "  Qui  hmret  in  litera^kceret  in  cortice.'''' 
Probably  it  was  under  such  an  astute  special  pleader,  that 
his  pupil  Benjamin  was  initiated  into  mysteries  of  politics, 
and  drank  deep  of  the  waters  of  Meribah. 

Having  been  admitted  to  practice  as  an  attorney  in  1806, 
he  opened  an  office  in  Bath,  with  high  recommendations  for 
talents  and  acquirements.  At  that  time,  party  spirit  was 
raging  like  a  pestilence,  and  the  whole  community  was  di- 
vided into  federalists  and  democrats.  Then  there  was  no 
middle  clique  of  hard-shells,  know-nothings,  and  abolition- 
ists ;  no  grades  of  political  distinction,  nor  prismatic  colors  in 
either  party :  white  and  black  were  the  only  hues  to  desig- 
nate either  side.  So  violent  and  fierce  was  the  contention 
between  these  two  national  belligerents,  that  in  many  towns 
and  villages  there  was  neither  friendly  intercourse  nor  even 
courtesy  bctwccu  them.      Houses,  in  many  instances,  were 


500  BENJAMIN   AMES:    POLITICAL   PARTIES. 

literally  divided  against  themselves  ;  families  were  estranged 
from  each  other ;  and  instead  of  love  to  our  neighbor,  a 
burning  hatred  reigned  in  the  bosom  of  the  partisan.  To 
stand  neutral  was  out  of  the  question  ; —  it  drew  down  tho 
vengeance  of  both  parties  ;  and,  in  a  word,  there  was  a  state 
of  civil  war  without  battle-field  and  without  bloodshed. 

It  was  during  these  political  excitements  that  an  amusing 
incident  occurred.  General  Joshua  Wingate,  a  man  of  gen- 
erous and  hospitable  character,  was  collector  of  the  port  of 
Bath.  His  wife,  daughter  of  Gen.  Dearborn,  late  Secretary 
of  War,  and  one  of  the  most  beautiful  women  Maine  ever 
produced,  was  desirous  of  giving  a  genial  welcome  to  their 
numerous  acquaintance  in  their  new  house  :  cards  were 
issued  ;  the  drawing-rooms  were  filled ;  and  ladies  and  gen- 
tlemen of  both  parties  there  met  face  to  face.  But  the  ele- 
gant and  fascinating  Mrs.  Wingate  was  almost  overwhelmed 
with  anxiety  and  despair.  She  saw  there  was  no  conversa- 
tion—  no  smile  —  no  kind  looks  at  each  other.  What  could 
she  do  ?  How  could  she  make  her  guests  happy  ?  A  bright 
thought  suddenly  sprung  from  her  warm  heart.  "  Wingate," 
as  she  always  called  her  husband,  "  send  for  Terpsichore, 
let  us  have  music  and  dancing."  It  was  done.  The  instru- 
ments struck  up ;  hands  and  feet  were  soon  in  lively  and 
graceful  motion  ;  and  though  few  and  short  were  the  words 
which  were  spoken,  yet  federalists  and  democrats  long  re- 
membered that  happy  evening. 

The  picture  I  have  drawn  of  those  times  is  no  exaggera- 
tion. Such  a  state  of  things  had  been  coming  on  for  some 
years ;  and  it  culminated  at  its  gloomiest  height,  when  the 
emljargo,  like  a  paralytic  shock  from  the  invisible  world,  dis- 
mantled every  ship  in  the  harbors  of  the  United  States,  ar- 
rested the  trade  of  the  country,  and  overshadowed  tlie  land 
with  fear  and  perplexity.  It  made  tens  of  thousands  poor : 
it  made  no  one  rich,  except  the  satellite  of  power,  or  some 


BENJAMIN   AMES  :    POLITICAL   PARTIES.  501 

feeder  at  the  public  crib.  But  this  is  neither  the  place  nor 
the  hour  to  discuss  the  wisdom  or  policy  of  a  measure  which 
seemed  so  suicidal.  For  the  actors  in  that  drama  are  all 
gone ;  and  that  great  and  wonderful  man,  who  filled  the 
■world  with  terror,  and  under  whose  impulse  the  embargo 
was  said  to  have  originated,  has  long  since  passed  away  and 
finished  his  destiny.  Napoleon  Bonaparte  —  of  whom  the 
eloquent  Fisher  Ames  said  in  1806,  "  Fourteen  centuries 
have  gone  back  over  our  head,  and  Attila,  the  scourge  of 
God,  has  come  again,"  —  now  only  lives  in  the  history  of 
the  past. 

The  town  of  Bath  —  now  a  flourishing  city  —  was  not  ex- 
empt from  the  common  fate.  She  had  her  full  sliare  of  dis- 
sension, and  Mr.  Ames  seemed  to  have  migrated  from  the 
school  of  law  in  Groton,  to  the  school  of  politics  in  Bath, 
where  master  spirits  stood  ready,  and  were  too  successful  in 
training  him  in  their  legerdemain  and  tactics,  —  to  his  sor- 
row at  a  future  day. 

The  two  great  parties  at  this  emporium  of  the  Kennebec, 
were  marshaled  under  distinguished  leaders  :  Gen.  King  was 
at  the  head  of  the  democrats  ;  Samuel  Davis,  the  greatest 
merchant  then  in  this  section  of  the  country,  was  the  lead- 
er of  the  federalists.  These  two  dignitaries,  with  their  fam- 
ilies and  friends,  kept  up  a  perpetual  feud.  On  every  occa- 
sion the  hostility  broke  out  —  in  church  or  state  —  at  the 
polls  or  on  the  exchange. 

It  is  said  that  in  the  blaze  of  this  domestic  war,  it  so  hap- 
pened that  Mr.  Davis,  with  some  of  his  pious  friends,  seeing 
that  a  large  and  stately  house  of  worship  was  needed  in  Bath, 
erected  a  church  on  the  north  side  of  the  county  road  to 
Brunswick.  It  stood  on  the  top  of  a  craggy  hill,  looking 
down  upon  the  city.  At  the  sight  of  this  conspicuous  edi- 
fice, looming  up  on  the  bank  of  the  beautiful  river,  Kenne- 
bec, like  a  light-house  in  the  narrow  path  to  Ilcavcn,  Gen. 


502  BENJAMIN   AMES. 

King  experienced  the  throbbings  of  great  seriousness ;  his 
heart  was  touched  to  the  quick  ;  and  he  said  within  himself; 
"  Shall  mine  adversary  build  a  temple  to  the  Lord,  and 
thereby  get  into  Paradise  before  I  do  ? "  Thought  and  action 
with  the  General  were  synonymous ;  he  summed  up  the 
profits  of  his  voyages,  contributed  largely,  and  with  a  troop 
of  his  religious  friends,  built  a  church  on  the  same  hill,  on 
the  other  side  of  the  road,  within  a  pistol  shot  of  the  first 
one.  It  was  similar  in  size  and  architecture  :  one  faced 
the  east,  the  other  the  West ;  one  was  called  the  North,  the 
other  the  South  church. 

For  a  long  time,  the  two  Congregational  societies,  who 
separately  assembled  in  these  twin  churches,  were  bitter  op- 
ponents, though  both  Orthodox.  At  last,  that  eminent  and 
much  beloved  divine  and  learned  scholar,  the  Rev.  William 
Jenks,  D.  D.,  now  of  Boston,  was  induced  to  take  charge  of 
the  North  church  ;  and  having  also  preached  occasionally  at 
the  South,  he  was  instrumental  in  reconciling  the  two  soci- 
eties. This  was  in  1812-1817.  Since  then,  the  South  church 
has  been  burnt  to  the  ground  by  an  anti-Catholic  mob,  and 
the  North  church  left  in  a  dilapidated  state  ; — a  melancholy 
monument  of  other  days,  while  several  new  and  elegant 
houses  of  worship  adorn  this  eastern  city,  so  famous  for  fine 
ships. 

Wlien  a  young  lawyer  first  begins  practice,  he  needs  some 
powerful  friend  to  introduce  him  to  the  world  ;  and  fortu- 
nate is  he  if  he  meet  with  a  patron  who  will  whisper  kind 
things  in  his  behalf,  in  the  ears  of  the  people.  Such  was 
Gen.  King  to  Benjamin  Ames  ;  and  under  a  prestige  so  aus- 
picious, he  rose  rapidly  into  notice.  Let  us  turn  aside  a 
moment  from  the  beaten  path,  to  contemplate  this  patron 
who  gave  him  the  right  hand  of  fellowship  so  cheerfully. 

William  King,  the  sultan  of  Bath,  was  a  very  remarkable 
man.     He  belonged  to  the  first  order  of   strojig,  energetic 


BENJAMIN   AMES:    WILLIAM   KING.  503 

intellect.     He  was  the  seventh  child  of  Richard  King  of 
Scarborough,  who  had  been  a  great  exporter  of  lumber,  and 
died  wealthy.     William  was  born  in  that  place  February  9th, 
17G8,  and  his  early  advantages  were  poor  and  limited.    While 
his  half-brother,  Rufus  King,  was  laying  the  foundation  of 
a  great  and  splendid  eminence  in  the  academic  groves  of 
Cambridge,  and  his  brother,  Cyrus  King,  was  preparing  him- 
self for  distinction  at  the  bar,  William  was  tending  a  saw- 
mill in  Saco,  and  there,  perhaps,  learnt  the  mystery  of  log- 
rolling, so  essential  to  success  in  political  life.     The  want  of 
education  was  a  misfortune  and  not  a  fault ;    and  many  a 
learned  sophister  who  made  sport  of  his  blunders  in  gram- 
mar, rhetoric,  or  orthography,  was  infinitely  beneath  him  in 
original  thought  and  deep  power  of  reasoning.      He  had 
studied  the  heart  of  mankind,  and  his  knowledge  of  human 
nature  seemed  intuitive.      His  ambition  was  lofty,  and  his 
perseverance  was  untiring  and  inexhaustible.     He  felt  that 
he  must  rely  upon  himself  in  making  his  way  in  the  world, 
and  he  did.     In  business,  as  a  merchant,  he  acquired  a  for- 
tune, and  Ijuilt  a  spacious  house  near  the  water's  edge,  where, 
as  one  of  the  greatest  ship-owners  in  the  United  States,  he 
could  often  hear  the  mariner's  joyous  song  from  his  window, 
in  the  morning,  or  look  out  at  his  vessels  moored  at  the 
wharf.     In  politics,  he  was  the  head  of  the   democracy  in 
Maine ;  and  although,  touching  the  management  of  an  elec- 
tioneering campaign,  there  arc  many  things  to  be  considered, 
such  as  a  newspaper,  club-room,  caucus,  town,  county,  or 
State  convention,  out-runners  for  candidates,  and  distribu- 
tors of  circulars  and  speeches,  yet  there  must  be  some  mas- 
ter-spirit behind  the  curtain,  like  a  fly-wheel  to  regulate  all 
this  machinery  ;    and  William  King  was  pre-eminently  the 
man  for  that.      Had  he  only  been  blessed  with  a  finished 
education,  he  would  have  been  one  of  the  first  men  in  the 
United  States ;  for  he  had  the  skill  of  Talleyrand,  but  much 
more  virtue. 


504  BENJAMIN   AMES  :    \YILLIAM   KING. 

nis  influence  in  bringing  about  the  separation  of  Maine 
from  Massachusetts,  and  in  the  formation  of  her  excellent 
constitution,  was  powerful ;  for  he  wielded  the  democracy  of 
Maine,  and  managed  the  helm  with  great  prudence.  Such 
was  his  popularity,  that,  with  an  immense  majority,  he  was 
elected  the  first  governor  ;  and,  laying  aside  all  party  feel- 
ings, he  administered  that  office  with  much  ability,  wisdom, 
and  fairness.  His  selections  were  excellent.  J3efore  the 
term  was  out,  he  resigned  the  chair  of  state,  for  an  appoint- 
ment at  Washington,  as  commissioner  under  the  Spanish 
treaty.    He  was  afterwards  collector  of  Bath, — 1831-1834. 

In  his  person,  he  was  tall  and  of  a  striking  figure  ;  and 
with  a  finely-formed  head,  strongly-marked  features,  high 
forehead,  and  black,  impending  brows,  h6  had  a  natural  and 
majestic  air  of  command,  which  impressed  every  beholder 
with  respect ;  and  more  especially  when  the  general  was 
arrayed  in  his  military  cloak  of  blue  and  red.  He  had  his 
faults  ;  but  he  had  warm  friends  and  many  admirers.  He 
was  unfortunate  in  his  old  age,  not  only  in  the  loss  of  prop- 
erty and  in  domestic  trials  and  afflictions,  but  in  the  decay 
of  his  own  mind,  once  so  active  and  vigorous.  His  sun 
went  down  in  great  darkness. 

I  remember,  a  long  time  ago,  when  stopping  one  night  in 
Portland,  at  Paine's  hotel,  that,  having  been  called  up  at 
four  o'clock  on  a  cold  winter's  morning,  to  take  the  stage  to 
Boston,  I  heard  a  window  open  in  the  next  room,  and  a  loud 
voice  hailing  a  passenger  in  the  yard  who  was  in  the  eastern 
stage  just  arrived  : — "  Ah  !  Major  Wood,  is  that  you,  what 
is  the  news  from  Boston  ?  How  go  the  votes  ?"  It  was 
Gen.  King's  voice.  Such  was  this  extraordinary  man  —  an 
early  riser,  wide  awake,  and  long  before  the  dawn,  watching 
the  course  of  political  events.  In  a  brief  sentence,  his  char- 
acter may  be  summed  up :  if  riding  out  on  horseback  for 
pleasure,  he  met  a  beggar  asking  alms,  he  would  relieve  him 


BENJAMIN   AMES.  505 

in  a  moment ;  but  let  him  be  in  hot  haste  after  some  distant 
object,  and  the  grand  old  general  would  ride  over  that  very- 
mendicant,  nor  cast  a  lingering  look  behind.  He  died  June 
17th,  1852,  aged  eighty-four. 

Few  young  men  have  ever  commenced  the  practice  of  the 
law  under  patronage  so  powerful,  and  influences  so  encour- 
aging to  an  aspiring  advocate,  as  Benjamin  Ames.  He  made 
but  one  step  from  poverty  to  the  emoluments  of  his  profes- 
sion. In  a  few  years,  he  stood  in  the  front  rank  of  the  law- 
yers of  Maine.  His  docket  was  the  largest,  and  he  entered 
a  longer  list  of  suits  than  any  one  of  the  forty  lawyers  of 
Lincoln  County,  and  his  defenses  were  numerous.  He 
seemed  to  glory  in  this  ostentatious  display.  Perhaps  his 
brother  Nathan  Ames,  for  a  long  time  a  deputy  sheriff,  was 
in  some  degree  instrumental  to  such  large  practice.  Be 
that  as  it  may,  he  brought  many  suits  where  neither  plain- 
tiff nor  defendant  was  worth  the  clerk's  fees, —  a  species  of 
suit  pauper  vs.  pauper.  This  is  not  profitable  litigation,  and 
though  he  worked  harder,  yet  he  laid  up  less  money  than 
many  at  the  bar  whose  talents  were  inferior  to  his. 

With  all  these  errors  of  judgment,  however,  Mr.  Ames 
was  looked  up  to  as  an  astute  lawyer  and  able  advocate.  He 
was  an  easy  and  ready  speaker,  and  a  close  reasoner,  for  he 
had  a  logical  brain.  When  necessary,  he  could  spin  a  thread 
fine  as  ever  spider  wove,  to  catch  the  unwary.  He  studied 
a  case  for  trial  with  unwearied  industry,  and  prepared  his 
testimony  with  such  skill,  that  every  strand  of  evidence  was 
wound  and  warped  into  a  cord,  which,  like  the  lasso,  seldom 
failed  to  entangle  his  adversary.  But,  with  all  his  ingenuity 
and  the  cunning  forms  of  logic,  though  often  successful,  he 
was  not  a  great  advocate  nor  orator.  He  had  no  genius  ; 
no  one  could  recollect  a  brilliant  flash  of  wit  that  came  from 
him;  and  as  to  imagination, —  that  power  of  summing  up 
the  past  before  the  mind's  eye, —  his  soul  was  a  stranger  to 

83 


506  BENJAMIN  AMES. 

it ;  his  fancy  was  as  "  dry  as  a  remaining  biscuit  after  a  voy- 
age." And  yet,  on  many  accounts,  lie  had  no  superior  at  the 
Lincohi  bar  —  save  one,  whose  profound  legal  knowledge, 
original  talents,  and  peculiar  power  over  the  jury,  placed 
him  far  beyond  and  above  him.  Benjamin  Ames,  though  a 
tall  man  as  a  debater  in  court  or  caucus,  seemed  small  indeed, 
when  he  walked  in  the  shadow  of  Benjamin  Orr's  magic 
eloquence. 

With  an  overflowing  practice  and  economical  family, 
Judge  Ames  ought  to  have  acquired  a  handsome  competency, 
and  been  free  from  pecuniary  embarrassments  long  before 
he  had  passed  the  meridian  of  life.  But  he  had  no  idea  of 
the  day-book  and  ledger,  in  his  business  and  expenditures. 
He  seemed  ignorant  of  the  value  of  money.  Early  and  late 
he  was  found  at  his  office,  and  was  a  working-man  in  the 
hardest  sense  of  the  word.  Perhaps  his  intense  devotion  to 
politics  absorbed  all  thoughts  of  prudence,  and  made  him 
forget  that  popularity  is  transient  and  fleeting  as  a  dream, 
and  when  a  gray-headed  politician  has  once  grown  poor  in 
public  service,  he  is  forgotten  by  his  friends,  and  regarded 
by  his  foes  as  a  pauper.  The  time  came  when  he  felt  this 
truth  ;  but  repentance  came  too  late. 

For  many  years  he  was  one  of  the  leaders  of  his  party. 
His  zeal  in  their  cause  secured  him,  under  Governor  Sulli- 
van in  1807,  the  office  of  county  attorney  for  Lincoln ;  and 
again,  in  1811,  that  of  judge  in  the  Circuit  Court  of  Com- 
mon Pleas,  under  Governor  Gerry.  This  station  lie  resigned 
in  1814,  for  the  sake  of  a  mercantile  cruise  in  a  brig  to  Ber- 
muda ;  others  say  to  the  Provinces  down  east,  disguised  in 
a  large  wig,  for  it  was  war  time.  Being  an  able  special 
pleader,  he  escaped  the  enemy  who  were  hovering  over  our 
coast,  and  after  some  months'  absence,  returned  home  to  his 
old  office.  And  here  he  continued  in  practice  for  several 
years.     In  1820,  having  been  elected  to  the  first  legislature 


BENJAMIN   AME3:    ABEL   BOYNTON.  607 

of  Maine,  lie  was  chosen  speaker  of  the  House.  He  was  re- 
elected the  three  following  years,  and  acquitted  himself  with 
honor.  In  1824,  having  been  chosen  a  senator  from  Lin- 
coln, he  was  made  president  of  the  senate,  an  office  which 
he  filled  but  one  year,  not  being  again  returned  to  that  body. 
In  1827,  he  was  again  chosen  a  representative  from  Bath, 
and  it  was  his  last  appearance  in  public  life.  For  some  cause 
or  other,  among  all  the  appointments  to  lucrative  offices  in 
the  new  State,  not  one  fell  to  him.  With  his  talents,  legal 
attainments,  and  skill  as  a  logician,  he  might,  by  more  at- 
tention to  his  profession  and  less  subservience  to  party,  have 
attained  to  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme  Court,  or 
any  office  in  the  gift  of  the  people.  But  he  was  restless, 
uneasy,  impulsive,  and  strangely  deficient  in  stability  of  char- 
acter. He  was  far  from  being  a  happy  man :  he  had  no 
taste  for  the  literature  of  Greece  or  Italy  or  old  England  ; 
and  he  was  therefore  laying  up  no  delightful  memories  for 
the  solitude  of  old  age. 

Judge  Ames  was  twice  married :  his  first  wife  was  Mary 
Boynton,  who  died  of  a  decline  November,  1810,  leaving  no 
children  :  he  afterwards  married  her  sister  Sally,  by  whom 
he  had  three  children,  two  daughters,  and  a  son,  George,  who 
was  educated  at  "West  Point,  then  went  to  the  far  west,  and 
after  a  short  probation  of  study,  was  admitted  to  practice 
law  ;  but  by  his  conduct  and  dissipation  he  lost  the  confi- 
dence of  his  friends,  and  no  one  knows  his  whereabouts. 

The  ladies  he  successively  married  were  sisters  of  Abel 
Boynton,  Esq.,  who  opened  an  office  in  Lisbon,  Maine,  1809, 
and  removed  to  Bath  in  1811,  where  he  became  a  partner 
with  his  brother-in-law.  Mr.  Boynton  was  the  son  of  Col. 
Abel  Boynton  of  Westford,  Massachusetts,  and  was  born 
May  4th,  1783.^     He  was  highly  esteemed  by  all  who  knew 

1  Genealogical  Register  of  the  Abbot  Family,  1847. 


508  BENJAMIN    AMES  :     ABEL   BOYNTON. 

him  as  a  gentlemanly,  honorable  man.  He  married  Sarah 
Leland,  daughter  of  Joseph  Leland  of  Saco.  His  prospects 
were  liattering  :  with  a  charming  wife,  whose  aunt  was  Mrs. 
Gen.  King,  with  prosperous  business,  and  many  friends,  who 
were  attached  to  him,  he  seemed  to  have  years  of  felicity 
marked  out  for  him  in  the  calendar  of  life.  But  it  was  oth- 
erwise ordered  in  the  inscrutable  movements  of  Providence. 
He  was  attacked  by  consumption  —  that  destroyer  of  so 
many  of  the  finest  flowers  in  the  garden  of  friendship.  He 
failed  rapidly,  and,  by  the  advice  of  his  physician,  embarked 
in  the  autumn  of  1816  in  a  vessel  bound  for  the  West  Indies, 
for  the  benefit  of  a  milder  climate.  On  the  eve  of  his 
departure,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Jenks,  who  took  a  deep  interest  in 
the  welfare  of  a  young  man  so  promising,  presented  him 
with  Wilberforce's  Practical  View  of  Cln-istianity.  The 
seed  fell  on  g-ood  ground.  He  returned  home  only  to  die  ; 
but  he  told  Dr.  Jenks  that  this  book  was  the  first  which  ever 
called  up  his  attention  to  religion.  He  was  admitted  into 
the  church  and  his  pastor  administered  the  sacrament  to  him 
on  his  dying  bed :  he  died  January,  23d,  1817,  aged  thirty- 
three.  The  Columbian  Centinel  of  February  1st,  1817, 
makes  this  obituary  notice  of  him  :  "  To  his  friends  his 
loss  is  irreparable,  and  society  has  seldom  lost  a  brighter 
ornament."     He  left  no  issue. 

Some  writer  has  said  that  the  old  Roman  adage,  "Nil  de 
mortuis  nisi  ftowwrn,"  should  have  been,  Nil  do  mortuis  nisi 
verum.  Be  it  so.  And  yet  the  truth  about  the  dead,  though 
told  with  much  reserve  and  great  caution,  may  sometimes 
wound  the  feelings  of  the  innocent,  and  do  no  good.  AVhen, 
however,  the  course  of  life  in  one  we  lament,  has  led  to  diffi- 
culty and  unhappiness,  it  may  be  made  a  warning  to  others. 
Every  step  in  the  daily  journey  to  another  world  must  con- 
vince any  one  that  integrity,  sincerity,  prudence,  and  temper- 
ance are  blessed  with  rich  rewards.    Judge  Ames  had  many 


BENJAMIN    AMES.  609 

fine  qualities ;  but  in  making  political  honors  the  grand  object 
of  his  life,  he  entered  upon  the  path  of  intrigue,  where  cor- 
ruption and  insincerity  usually  prevail.  He  quarreled  with 
his  old  and  best  friend,  Gen.  King,  about  the  coUectorship, 
and  they  were  at  swords'  points.  They  mutually  accused 
each  other  of  supplying  the  enemy  in  the  war  of  1812. 
Their  recriminations  were  violent.  They  raked  open  the 
ashes  of  the  old  wig  and  the  brig  and  the  flour  and  po- 
tatoes, which  had  l)een  carried  down  east,  and  for  many 
years  had  been  outlawed  and  forgotten.  It  is  not  fifty  years 
since,  and  both  parties  have  gone  to  that  unseen  world  where 
the  truth  only  is  known. 

He  perceived  with  sorrow  that  his  office  business  was 
passing  into  younger  hands.  He  became  involved  in 
debt.  Something  must  be  done  to  keep  the  wolf  from  the 
door,  and  he  cast  his  eye  anxiously  toward  the  Far  West. 
Having  obtained  credit,  and  made  provision  for  his  family 
for  one  year,  he  went  to  Cincinnati,  and  there  opened  an 
office.  Tliis  was  1827-9.  What  clients  he  found,  or  suc- 
cess he  met  with,  is  unknown  to  the  writer.  The  fame  of 
his  eloquence,  even  if  it  ever  charmed  a  county  court,  could 
not  have  reached  the  magnificent  banks  of  the  Ohio  ;  and 
there  was  no  King  there  to  smile  upon  his  professional 
labors.  Tlie  first  news  we  heard  of  him  was  from  Rhode 
Island,  where,  having  reached  Providence,  on  a  journey  to 
Bath,  he  was  somewhat  delayed  ;  and  from  over-anxiety  to 
get  along,  he  became  excited,  the  blood  rushed  to  his  head, 
and  he  was  struck  down  with  a  paralysis  of  the  brain.  From 
this  visitation  he  never  fully  recovered.  His  mind  in  a  great 
degree  had  wandered  from  him. 

This  took  place  in  1831-2.  His  brother-in-law.  Captain 
Benjamin  A.  Boynton,  U.  S.  A.,  at  that  time  had  command 
of  the  military  station  at  Iloulton,  a  village,  then  just  incor- 
porated as  a  shiro  town  of  Aroostook  County,  on  a  branch  of 


510  BENJAMIN   AMES:    NATHAN   WESTON. 

the  St.  John  River.  Here,  broken  down  in  body  and  a  mere 
wreck  in  mind,  he  with  his  family  were  taken  care  of  by 
that  generous  and  noble  relative,  while  he  lingered  three 
years,  until  September  28th,  1835,  when  he  ended  his  un- 
happy life  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven.  Judge  Ames  was  a 
member  of  the  church  of  Christ ;  and  may  we  not  hope,  in 
charity,  that  after  years  of  restless  ambition,  and  much  dis- 
appointment and  suffering,  he  has  found  a  home  in  that  city 
which  needs  not  the  light  of  the  sun  nor  of  the  moon  to 
lighten  it. 

NATHAN     WESTON.      1806  — 

Chief  Justice  Weston  may  be  treated  rather  as  a  judge 
than  as  a  practicing  lawyer,  for  he  had  not  been  long  enough 
at  the  bar  to  establish  a  business,  or  a  high  reputation,  before 
he  was  raised  to  the  bench.  And  his  career  as  a  judge,  of 
thirty  years'  continuance,  was  commensurate  with  his  legal 
life. 

Judge  Weston  was  descended  from  John  Weston,  who 
came  from  Buckinghamshire,  England,  to  Salem  in  1644,  at 
the  age  of  thirteen  years  :  he  subsequently  moved  to  Read- 
ing, Massachusetts,  where  he  died  in  1723,  over  ninety  years 
of  age.  His  son,  Stephen,  died  in  Reading  in  1753,  at  the 
age  of  eighty-eight.  He  had  a  son,  Stephen,  who  died  in 
Wilmington,  a  town  adjoining  Reading,  in  1776,  in  his 
eighty-first  year.  These  were  all  substantial  men  and  hon- 
ored citizens  of  the  towns  in  which  they  lived.  The  last 
named  Stephen  was  the  father  of  Nathan,  and  the  grand- 
father of  the  subject  of  oiw  present  notice  ;  who  thus  appears 
to  have  been  in  the  fifth  degree  from  the  first  American 
ancestor. 

Nathan  Weston,  father  of  the  chief  justice,  was  the  fifth 
son  of  Stephen,  and  born  in  Wilmington  in  1740.     In  1781, 


NATHAN   WESTON.  511 

he  married  Elizabeth,  a  daughter  of  Samuel  Bancroft  of 
Reading,  and  sister  of  the  Rev.  Aaron  Bancroft,  for  more 
than  fifty  years  the  honored  and  beloved  minister  of  Wor- 
cester, and  father  of  George  Bancroft,  the  historian.  She 
was  his  tliird  wife,  and  the  mother  of  the  chief  justice.  Mr. 
Weston  served  in  tlic  French  War  a  short  period  ;  after 
which  he  came  to  Maine,  engaged  in  the  lumber  business 
about  Merrymeeting  bay,  and  finally  established  himself  in 
trade  at  Augusta  toward  tlie  close  of  the  Revolutionary  War, 
1781.  He  represented  the  town  two  years  in  the  General 
court  of  Massachusetts,  and  was  subsequently,  in  1806  and 
1807,  a  member  of  the  Executive  council :  he  died  in  1832 
at  the  age  of  ninety-two. 

His  son,  Nathan,  was  born  in  Augusta  July  27th,  1782. 
He  pursued  his  studies  at  the  Hallowell  academy,  an  insti- 
tution then  recently  opened  and  placed  under  the  care  of 
Samuel  Moody,  who  became  a  distinguished  instructor  for 
many  years  in  that  academy.  In  due  time  he  entered  Dart- 
mouth College,  then  administered  by  President  Wheelock, 
and  diligently  and  honorably  pursued  his  studies,  acquiring  a 
high  standing  in  a  class  of  forty-four,  which  numbered  among 
its  members  Drs.  Hall,  Mussey,  and  Shattuck,  Calvin  Selden 
and  Henry  Hubbard.  He  was  chosen  into  the  Phi-Beta- 
Kappa  society  of  the  Alpha  of  Dartmouth.  On  leaving 
college,  he  entered  the  office  of  Benjamin  Whitwell  in  Au- 
gusta, in  which  he  remained  a  few  months,  when  he  sought 
a  wider  field  of  excitement  and  observation,  and  entered  the 
office  of  George  Blake  of  Boston.  Mr.  Blake  was  District 
Attorney  of  the  United  States,  to  which  office  he  was  ap- 
pointed in  1801,  and  which  he  held  through  all  changes  of 
administration  until  1828.  He  was  a  learned  lawyer,  an 
able  advocate,  and  a  leading  politician  of  the  democratic 
school.  He  died  in  1841.  Mr.  Weston  had  here  an  ample 
opportunity  for  instruction  and  improvement ;  among  which, 


512  NATHAN  WESTON. 

the  privilege  of  hearing  the  eminent  lawyers  at  the  Boston 
Bar  may  be  ranked.  The  most  prominent  of  these  were 
Parsons,  Sullivan,  Dexter,  Gore,  and  Otis.  On  com- 
pleting his  studies,  he  was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar  in 
July,  1806,  and  soon  after  opened  an  office  at  Augusta.  Mr. 
Blake  invited  him  to  remain  in  Boston,  and  have  charge  of 
his  office,  but  he  preferred  to  take  his  chance  in  the  rising 
fortunes  of  his  native  State. 

The  following  spring,  Mr.  Weston  was  induced  to  remove 
to  New  Gloucester,  where  an  opening  was  made  by  the  re- 
moval of  Judge  Whitman  to  Portland.  Mr.  Whitman's 
business  there  had  been  very  large,  he  was  the  only  lawyer, 
and  the  vacant  place  promised  many  advantages.  He  had 
a  successful  business,  and  was  chosen  a  representative  from 
the  town  in  1808,  but  the  next  year,  1809,  having  formed 
a  matrimonial  connection  with  Miss  Cony,  a  daughter  of 
Judge  Daniel  Cony  of  Augusta,  he  returned  in  1810  to 
that  town,  which  has  since  been  the  place  of  his  residence. 

In  1811,  Elbridge  Gerry,  the  democratic  candidate  for 
governor,  having  succeeded  in  his  election  over  Gov.  Gore, 
and  being  sustained  by  majorities  in  both  branches  of  the 
legislature,  his  administration  made  radical  changes  in  men 
and  measures  of  the  old  commonwealth.  As  they  could 
not  reach  the  judges  by  removal,  and  as  Mr.  Jefferson  said 
of  office-holders  generally,  "  Few  die  and  none  resign,"  the 
majority  undertook  to  abolish  the  old  Court  of  Common 
Pleas,  which  had  stood  unchanged  from  the  time  of  the 
charter  of  1691,  and  thus  getting  rid  of  an  army  of  vet- 
eran officers,  their  places  were  supplied  in  the  new  "  Circuit 
Courts,"  for  the  greater  part,  by  the  friends  and  supporters 
of  the  administration.  And  the  clerks,  who  had  always 
been  appointed  by  the  respective  courts  previous  to  that 
time,  and  were  considered  as  official  guardians  of  the  rec- 
ords and  papers  of  the  courts,  under  the  order  and  direc- 


NATHAN   WESTON.  513 

tion  of  the  judges,  were,  by  an  act  passed  at  the  same  ses- 
sion, made  subject  to  executive  appointment.  The  existing 
clerks  were  displaced,  and  in  future  were  to  receive  their 
appointment  from  the  Governor  and  Council.  These  great 
changes  made  quite  a  commotion  through  the  State  ;  the 
removal  of  so  many  ofiicers  of  all  departments  rallied  an 
opposition  to  the  administration  of  Mr.  Gerry,  which  it 
could  not  withstand,  and  it  was  overthrown  the  next  year 
by  the  election  of  Gov.  Strong  and  his  political  friends  to 
power.  Another  of  the  obnoxious  measures  of  Mr.  Gerry's 
administration  was  making  a  new  division  of  districts  for 
the  election  of  members  of  Congress.  For  the  purpose  of 
securing  a  democratic  representative  from  the  county  of 
Essex,  a  singular  and  unnatural  arrangement  was  made  of 
the  towns  in  that  county.  Major  Russell,  the  editor  of  the 
Boston  Centinel,  to  show  the  absurdity  of  this  arrangement, 
made  a  map  of  the  county,  designating  by  a  particular 
color  the  towns  composing  the  new  district.  This  he  hung 
in  his  office,  where  Gilbert  Stuart,  the  great  painter,  hap- 
pening to  see  it  one  day,  said  to  Russell,  that  it  formed  a 
picture  resembling  some  animal.  He  took  his  pencil,  and 
with  a  few  touches  put  on  what  represented  claws.  "  There," 
said  he,  "  that  will  do  for  a  salamander."  Russell  looked  at 
the  hideous  figure,  and  exclaimed  "  Salamander  !  call  it 
Gerrymander."  It  was  so  named,  and  became  a  by-word. 
An  engraving  was  made  of  it,  and  it  was  used  with  con- 
siderable effect  in  the  next  political  canvass. 

Under  the  law  altering  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas, 
which  was  entitled  "  An  act  establishing  Circuit  Courts  of 
Common  Pleas  within  this  Commonwealth,"  three  circuits 
were  formed  in  Maine :  the  first  including  the  counties  of 
York,  Cumberland,  and  Oxford,  and  called  the  "  First  East- 
ern Circuit ;"  the  second  embraced  Lincoln,  Kennebec,  and 
Somerset,  and  was  called  the  "Second  Eastern  Circuity" 


514  NATHAN  WESTON  :    CIRCUIT   COURTS. 

the  third  circuit  included  the  tvro  eastern  counties,  Hancock 
and  Washington.  In  the  second  circuit,  Mr.  Weston  was 
appointed  chief  justice,  Benjamin  Ames  of  Bath  and  Judah 
McLcUan  of  Bloomficld,  associates.  McLellan  dechned  the 
office,  and  his  place  was  supplied  by  Ebenezer  Thatcher. 

Judge  Weston  had  been  at  the  bar  less  than  five  years, 
and  was  but  twenty-nine  years  old,  when  he  received  this 
appointment.  He  had  not  had  a  great  amount  of  practice, 
nor  had  he  distinguished  himself  at  the  bar ;  but  he  was 
a  warm  friend  of  the  administration,  and  had  fi'iends  at 
court.  Notwithstanding  the  political  character  of  the 
change,  and  the  censure  it  received  from  the  opposition,  the 
new  court  was  certainly  an  improvement  on  the  old  one. 
A  court  consisting  of  three  judges  and  all  lawyers,  was  sub- 
stituted, in  this  second  circuit  alone,  for  three  courts  and 
ten  judges,  each  county  having  its  own  court,  of  whom  not 
one  was  a  lawyer.  Tiie  system  of  paying  the  judges  by  fees 
levied  on  the  business,  was  continued  during  the  existence 
of  the  court,  and  was  not  superseded  until  after  the  separa- 
tion. This  led  to  the  undignified  practice,  at  the  close  of 
every  court,  for  the  judges  aiid  clerks  to  make  an  adjust- 
ment of  the  fees,  and  apportion  their  compensation.  They 
counted  over  the  entries  and  tlie  cases  opened  to  the  jury, 
the  number  of  appeals,  &c.;  for  each  item  there  was  a  spe- 
cific charge.  The  fee  bill  at  that  time  allowed  to  tlie  judges 
the  following  items,  viz.,  for  the  entry  of  each  action  eighty 
cents,  and  where  issue  was  joined,  one  dollar  in  addition  ; 
appeal  twenty  cents  ;  surrender  of  bail  twenty  cents  ;  prov- 
ing deed  twenty  cents  ;  petition  and  order  for  partition  sev- 
enty-five cents  ;  accepting  partition  forty  cents ;  accepting  re- 
port of  referees  when  contested,  sixty  cents  ;  when  not  con- 
tested, thirty  cents  :  these  were  in  addition  to  the  fees  al- 
lowed the  clerk,  as,  for  instance,  fifty  cents  for  the  entry, 
taxing  cost,  and  filing  papers.     Soon  after  the  organization 


NATHAN   WESTON.  515 

of  the  court  in  the  second  circuit,  then  consisting  of  Chief 
Justice  Weston,  Ames,  and  Ebcuczer  Thatcher,  who  had 
succeeded  Judah  McLellan,  the  court  made  an  order  that 
no  action  should  be  continued  unless  "  issue  be  joined :" 
this  sudden  order  took  the  bar  by  surprise,  as  it  subjected 
them,  as  will  be  perceived  by  the  above  extract  fi'om  the  fee 
bill,  to  heavy  additional  taxation ;  that  is,  one  dollar  for 
every  case,  and  gave  the  same  additional  compensation  to 
the  judges.  The  indignation  of  the  members  of  the  bar 
was  equal  to  their  surprise,  and  a  successful  effort  was  made 
to  the  Legislature  to  overrule  the  order :  an  act  prohibiting 
such  taxation  was  passed  in  June,  1813. 

Judge  Weston  presided  in  this  court  with  dignity  and 
ease,  faithfully  and  promptly  discharging  the  duties  of  the 
office,  to  the  acceptance  of  the  bar  and  the  people,  until 
1820,  when,  on  the  organization  of  the  new  State,  Judge 
Weston  was  appointed  one  of  the  associate  justices  of  the 
Supreme  Court.  He  was  commended  to  this  honorable  po- 
sition, by  the  side  of  the  able  jurists  Mellen  and  Preble,  by 
his  experience  and  the  satisfaction  he  had  given  in  the  dis- 
charge of  his  official  functions  in  the  Common  Pleas.  This 
office  he  held  till  near  the  close  of  183-1,  fourteen  years, 
when  Chief  Justice  Mellen,  having  arrived  at  the  age 
of  seventy  years,  then  the  constitutional  limit  of  the 
office.  Judge  Weston  was  elevated  to  the  chief  justiceship 
in  October  of  that  year,  as  the  successor  of  this  eminent 
jurist.  His  associates  at  this  time  were  Judges  Parris  and 
Emery.  Chief  Justice  Weston  continued  to  preside  in  this 
court  for  the  term  of  seven  years,  at  the  end  of  which,  a 
constitutional  amendment  having  been  adopted,  limiting 
the  judicial  tenure  to  seven  years,  he  retired,  in  October, 
1841,  from  the  bench.  The  administration  of  the  State 
being  then  in  the  hands  of  the  whigs,  they  took  this  occasion 
to  place  at  the  head  of  its  highest  judicial  tribunal,  Chief 


516  NATHAN    WESTON. 

Justice  Whitman,  who  had  presided  in  the  Common  Pleas  a 
period  of  nearly  twenty  years.  Chief  Justice  Weston  was 
nominated  as  his  own  successor  by  Governor  Kent,  but  was 
not  confirmed  by  the  council. 

Chief  Justice  Weston  presided  in  this  court  with  dignity 
and  impartiality  :  he  was  not  a  profound  lawyer,  but  he 
had  industry  and  long  experience,  and  discharged  the  du- 
ties of  the  responsible  office  to  general  satisfaction.  He 
was  patient  in  the  trials  of  causes,  and  his  opinions  were 
clear  and  to  the  point.  These  opinions,  as  an  associate  and 
chief,  are  recorded  in  the  first  twenty  volumes  of  the  Maine 
reports,  embracing  Greenleaf,  Fairfield,  and  a  part  of  Shep- 
ley's  series.  They  are  lucid  expositions  of  the  law  applica- 
ble to  the  cases  heard  and  determined. 

At  nisi  prius,  Judge  Weston  presided  with  calmness  and 
ability  :  his  long  experience  enabled  him  to  rule  promptly 
upon  such  points  of  law  as  were  raised  at  trials.  He  was 
patient  and  unruffled  in  the  hearing  of  causes,  and  his 
charges  to  the  jury  were  clear^  full,  and  metliodical.  To 
the  members  of  the  bar,  he  was  frank  and  courteous. 

Chief  Justice  Weston  was  so  early  placed  iipon  the  bench, 
that  he  was  removed  from  the  field  of  political  action,  and 
is  rarely  found  in  its  offices.  He  was  always  and  firmly,  a 
member  of  the  democratic  party  ;  and  the  only  political 
offices  we  know  of  his  having  filled  were  those  of  represen- 
tative of  New  Gloucester  in  1808,  and  a  delegate  to  the 
Brunswick  Convention  in  181(3 :  in  the  latter  body,  he  was 
one  of  the  committee  on  the  Constitution,  and  supported 
the  measures  of  the  majority  of  the  convention. 

Judge  Weston  was  appointed  one  of  the  trustees  of  Bow- 
doin  College  in  1820,  under  the  law  of  Maine,  which  gave 
the  governor  and  council  power  to  appoint  twelve  of  the 
trustees  of  that  institution ;  Avhich  office  he  continues  to 
hold.     In  1843,  the  college  conferred  upon  him  the  honor- 


^/"h^A^^.. 


/-!,</ r.^O, 


NATHAN   WESTON  :    WILLIAM    D.  WILLIAMSON.  517 

ary  title  of  LL.  D.,  in  which  they  had  been  anticipated  by 
both  Dartmouth  and  Watervillc.  He  also  held  the  office  of 
trustee  of  Waterville  College  thirty-two  years.  He  mar- 
ried a  daughter  of  Judge  Daniel  Cony  of  Augusta,  a  wom- 
an of  fmc  manners  and  admirable  qualities  :  by  her  he  had 
a  large  family  of  children :  he  is  left  a  widower,  and  now 
spends  the  evening  of  his  long  day  in  the  management  of 
his  private  affairs,  and  the  genial  courtesies  and  amenities 
of  life.  He  has  been  a  great  reader  of  works  in  all  depart- 
ments of  knowledge,  and  having  a  tenacious  memory,  he 
has  accumulated  large  stores  of  valuable  information.  By 
an  easy  conversational  talent,  he  makes  himself  a  very 
agreeable  companion  both  to  old  and  young,  to  whom  he 
freely  imparts,  from  his  ample  resources,  useful  and  pleas- 
ant information,  with  interesting  reminiscences  running 
through  a  large  part  of  a  century.  Those  who  have  en- 
joyed the  privilege  of  his  society,  remember  it  with  gratifi- 
cation. 

Judge  Weston  has  had  seven  children,  four  sons  and  three 
daughters :  his  sons,  Nathan,  Daniel  Cony,  and  George  Mel- 
ville, were  graduates  of  Bowdoin  College,  and  were  ed- 
ucated for  the  bar  ;  but  Daniel  C.  is  now  in  the  ministry  at 
Stonington,  Connecticut ;  Charles,  the  youngest,  has  served 
both  in  the  navy  and  army. 

WILLIAM   DURKEE   WILLIAMSON.      1807  —  1846. 

One  of  the  prominent  men  in  the  fraternity  we  have  been 
describing,  was  William  1>.  Williamson,  the  lawyer,  the 
politician,  and  the  historian,  who  establislicd  himself  at 
Bangor,  then  in  the  county  of  Hancock,  in  1807.  ^Ir.  Wil- 
liamson was  born  in  Canterbury,  Connecticut,  July  31, 
1770.  He  was  educated  at  Brown  University,  from  Avhich 
he  took  his  degree  in  1804,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  and 


618  WILLIAM   D.    WILLIAMSON. 

at  once  commenced  the  study  of  the  profession  which  he 
had  adopted,  in  the  office  of  Samuel  F,  Dickinson,  at  Am- 
herst, Massachusetts.  On  being  admitted  to  the  bar,  he 
immediately  entered  on  the  practice,  at  Bangor.  Mr.  Wil- 
liamson commenced  the  active  pursuits  of  life  under  unus- 
ual advantages  :  he  was  older,  and  had  had  more  experience 
than  young  men  generally  when  entering  on  their  profes- 
sion :  he  had  great  activity  of  mind,  an  ardent,  sanguine 
temperament,  and  a  persevering  industry  :  qualities  like 
these  rarely  fail  of  success,  and  we  find  in  this  case  no 
exception  to  the  rule  :  liis  prosperity  was  uninterrupted.  At 
the  time  he  went  to  Bangor,  there  were  three  lawyers  in  the 
town,  —  Allen  Oilman;  Samuel  E.  Dutton,  who  soon  after 
moved  to  Boston ;  and  Jacob  McGaw  ;  and  sixteen  in  the 
county,  embracing  Hancock,  Penobscot,  and  territory  now 
included  in  several  other  counties.  Mr.  Williamson  did  not 
lack  confidence  or  perseverance  :  his  competitors  for  the 
prizes  of  the  law  were  very  able,  —  many  of  them  eloquent 
men  :  he  pushed  his  way  among  them,  acquired  a  large  busi- 
ness, which  he  managed  with  skill :  he  attended  the  courts 
regularly  at  Castine,  and  in  the  neighboring  counties,  and 
established  a  good  reputation  at  the  bar,  and  in  the  commu- 
nity. His  advance  was  greatly  aided  by  his  appointment, 
in  1811,  as  county  attorney  for  Hancock,  an  office  which 
the  administration  of  Governor  Gerry,  by  an  act  passed 
tliat  year,  restored  to  the  patronage  of  the  executive.  It 
had  passed  through  several  mutations  within  a  few  years. 
It  was  originally  bestowed  by  the  courts  ;  but  in  the  politi- 
cal struggles  for  power,  in  the  early  part  of  this  century,  it 
was  made  the  foot-ball  of  parties  :  in  1807,  under  Governor 
Sullivan,  the  Democratic  party  gave  the  appointment  to  the 
executive  :  under  Governor  Gore,  in  1809,  it  was  restored 
to  the  courts  :  in  1811,  under  Governor  Gerry,  it  was  again 
given  to  the  executive,  as  were  also  the  clerkships  of  the 


WILLIAM   D.    WILLIAMSON.  619 

courts.     Mr.  Williamson  was  the  most  active  democratic 
lawyer  in  the  county,  while  a  majority,  including  the  most 
prominent  and  influential  meml)ers  of  the  profession,  were 
of  the  federal  party.     Tliis  oflice  he   held,   and  faithfully 
discharged  its  duties,  until  it  became  vacant  by  tlie  estab- 
lishment   of  the    county    of    Penobscot,   in    181G,   when 
Jacob  McGaw  was  appointed  for  Penobscot,  and   George 
Herbert  of  Ellsworth  for  Hancock.     The  same  year,  how- 
ever, he  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of  Massachusetts,  and 
held  the  office  by  successive  elections  until  the  separation  of 
Maine  from  Massachusetts.     Wlien  this  event  took  place,  he 
was  chosen  the  first  and  sole  senator  from  Penobscot  to  the 
Legislature  of  Maine,  and  elected  president  of  that  body,  as 
successor  to  Gen.  John  Chandler,  who  was  chosen  the  first 
senator  of  the  new  State  in  Congress.     By  another  change, 
during  his  term  of  office,  he  became  the  acting  governor  of 
the  State,  in  place  of  Governor  King,  who  was  appointed 
commissioner  under  the  Spanish  treaty,  and  resigned  the 
office  of  governor.     But  in  this  busy  time  of  political  muta- 
tion, he  did  not  even  hold  the  office  of  governor  through 
the  whole  term,  for  having  been  elected  to  Congress  from 
his  district,  he  resigned  the  former  office  to  take  his  seat  in 
the  House,  in  December,  1821.     This  position  he  held  but 
one  term,  wlien,  by  a  new  division  of  the  State  into  districts, 
the  election  fell  to  another  portion  of  the  territory :  David 
Kidder,  a  lawyer  in  Somerset  County,  was  his  successor. 

But  Mr.  "Williamson  did  not  long  remain  without  the 
honors  and  emoluments  of  office  :  in  1824,  he  was  appointed 
judge  of  Probate  for  the  county  of  Penobscot,  which  office 
he  held  until  1840;  when  the  amendment  of  the  constitution 
having  taken  effect,  which  limited  the  tenure  of  all  judicial 
offices  to  seven  years,  he  retired  from  a  station  which  he 
had  filled  with  promptness,  fidelity,  and  ability  for  sixteen 
years.     If  any  one  could  be  gratified  by  success  iu  politics, 


620  TTILLIAM   D.    WILLIAMSON. 

surely  Mr.  Williamson  should  be  that  man  :  he  entered  into 
orticc  almost  at  the  commencement  of  his  professional  career, 
and  continued  in  possession  of  one  or  another,  during  the 
wliole  meridian  of  his  life.  It  may  have  satisfied  the  ambi- 
tion of  the  time,  but  we  doubt  whether  it  produced  tho 
happiness,  —  we  know  that  it  did  not  the  fame,  —  which 
attended  the  steady  and  quiet  pursuit  of  all  his  leisure 
hours. 

His  History  of  Maine  was  the  great  labor  of  his  life :  to 
this  the  best  powers  of  his  mind  were  given  ;  and  on  this 
he  labored  with  an  earnestness  and  ardor  which  gave  joy  to 
his  heart  and  liglit  to  his  understanding.  Wherever  he 
went,  upon  whatever  subject  he  was  engaged,  his  eye  and 
his  pen  were  intent  upon  his  great  work.  He  was  indefat- 
igable in  his  labors,  and  explored  all  sources  of  knowledge 
which  would  be  likely  to  inform  or  illuminate  his  page. 
He  collected  a  vast  mass  of  materials,  and  rescued  from 
oblivion  treasures,  which,  had  it  not  been  for  his  exertions 
and  industry,  would  have  passed  out  of  human  obserA'ation 
and  memory.  The  work  was  published  in  two  large  octavo 
volumes,  the  first  edition  in  1832 ;  and  a  second  issue,  with 
corrections,  was  made  in  1839,  with  a  portrait  of  the  author. 
The  title  is,  "  The  History  of  the  State  of  Maine,  from  its 
First  Discovery  in  1G02,  to  the  Separation,  A.  D.  1820,  in- 
clusive :  "  pp.  G60,  714.  The  work  is  not  skillfully  or  con- 
veniently arranged,  and  the  style  is  defective :  it  is  an  ample 
collection  of  valuable  facts,  but  does  not  rise  into  tlic  rank 
of  an  elegant  or  a  philosophical  history.  We  could  not 
now  spare  it ;  and  the  student  of  the  history  of  Maine  could 
not  do  without  it.  Tiiis  State  and  all  the  States  are  greatly 
his  debtor  for  this  fruit  of  his  unwearied  and  abundant 
labor.  How  low  do  the  rewards  of  his  political  life  sink, 
when  compared  to  this  enduring  monument  to  his  memory 


WILLIAM   D.   WILLIAMSON.  621 

and  fame  !  His  political  acts  have  perished  in  the  using  : 
the  history  will  be  his  perpetual  record. 

Mr.  Williamson  was  an  original  member  of  the  Maine 
Historical  Society  ;  and  many  of  his  valuable  manuscripts, 
prepared  while  collecting  materials  for  his  history,  are  now 
preserved  in  the  archives  of  the  society,  —  the  gift  of  his 
nephew,  Joseph  Williamson  of  Belfast.  His  mind  had  a 
tendency  to  detail,  and  he  gathered  up  and  arranged  statis- 
tics with  great  facility  and  fondness,  the  results  of  which 
appeared  in  various  forms. 

Mr.  Williamson  finished  his  useful  and  varied  life  on  the 
27th  of  May,  1846,  at  the  age  of  sixty-six.  The  Penobscot 
Bar  passed  appropriate  resolutions  on  the  occasion,  and 
attended  his  funeral. 


84 


CHAPTER    XIX. 


SIMON   GREENLEAP  —  CALVIN   SELDEN —  SAMUEL  PESSENDEN 
WILLIAM   ALLEN   HAYES  —  EDMUND     FLAGG  —  AL- 
BION  KEITH   PARRIS — HIRAM   BELCHER. 


SIMON    GREENLEAP.      180  6  —  1834. 

Among  the  distinguished  lawyers  and  advocates  who  have 
adorned  the  Cumberland  Bar  during  its  century  of  exis- 
tence, from  the  organization  of  the  county  in  1760,  we  may 
rank  Professor  Grecnleaf,  who  for  twenty-seven  years  was 
one  of  its  able  champions.  He  descended  from  Edmund 
Grecnleaf,  who  was  born  in  the  parish  of  Brixliam,  Devon- 
shire, England,  about  the  year  1600,  and  came  to  Newbury, 
Massachusetts,  in  1635,  with  his  family.  One  of  his  de- 
scendants, the  Rev.  Jonathan  Grecnleaf  of  Brooklyn,  New 
York,  in  his  well  prepared  genealogical  account  of  the  fam- 
ily, to  which  I  am  largely  indebted  for  many  facts,  remarks  : 
"It  is  believed  that  the  ancestors  of  the  Grecnleaf  family 
were  Huguenots,  who  left  France  on  account  of  their  relig- 
ious principles,  sometime  in  the  course  of  the  sixteenth 
century,  and  settled  in  England.  The  name  was  probably 
translated  from  the  French  name  ^Feuilleverlj'  which  means 


<> 


"<<- 


^^^f-»i.<7t<^^l££.^^^^^ 


SIMON  GREENLEAF.  523 

in  English  a  green  leaf."     His  wife  was  Sarah  Dole.     The 
table  of  descent  in  a  direct  line  to  Simon  is  as  follows : 

1.  Edmund,        .         .         .  died  in  Boston,  1671. 

2.  Stephen,  born  in  England,  1630,  drowned         1690. 
S.John,         "        June  21, 1682,  died  June  24, 1734. 

4.  Daniel,      "  Dec.   24, 1690,  drown'd  Jan., 1729. 

5.  Jonathan,  "  July,        1723,  died  May,       1807. 

6.  Moses,        "  May  19,  1755,     "    Dec.  18, 1812. 

7.  Simon,       "  Dec.     5,  1783,     "    Oct.     6, 1853. 

The  grandfather  of  Simon,  the  Hon.  Jonathan  Greenleaf, 
was  the  sixth  child  and  second  son  of  Daniel,  who  was 
drowned  when  his  son  Jonathan  was  a  little  over  five  years 
of  age,  leaving  his  family  quite  destitute.  At  the  age  of 
seven,  Jonathan  was  apprenticed  to  a  ship  carpenter,  which 
was  the  principal  occupation  of  his  life,  and  by  which  he 
accumulated  a  large  estate.  And  as  he  was  a  very  upright, 
honest  man,  it  is  very  probable  that  the  high  character  of 
the  ships  built  at  Xewburyport,  and  on  the  Merrimac  River, 
may  be  owing  to  the  integrity  of  the  men  who  were  en- 
gaged in  this  employment.  Jonathan  Greenleaf  rose  into 
political  life  and  influence  :  he  was  a  member  of  the  Pro- 
vincial Congress,  and  after  that,  of  the  House  of  Represen- 
tatives, the  Senate,  and  Council  of  Massachusetts.  He  T^as 
of  dignified  manners  and  popular  address,  and  from  tho 
gentle,  silvery  tones  of  his  voice,  he  was  distinguished  from 
others  of  the  name  by  the  title  "  silver-tongued  Greenleaf.'* 
His  second  son,  Moses,  father  of  Simon,  was  also  bred  a 
ship-carpenter,  but  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution, 
he  entered  the  army  as  a  lieutenant :  the  next  year  he  was 
promoted  to  a  captaincy,  and  served  nearly  through  the  war. 
In  1781,  he  formed  a  connection  in  shi|>building  with  his 
father  ;  and  from  that  time  to  1790,  the  firm  built  twenty- 


524  SIMON  GREENLEAP. 

two  ships  and  brigs.  In  the  latter  year,  he  moved  on  to  a 
farm  in  New  Gloucester,  where  he  died  Pcccmber  18,  1812. 
He  was  a  well-proportioned  man,  with  a  military  air,  walk- 
ing erect  with  a  firm  step.  His  wife,  whom  he  married  in 
177G,  was  Lydia,  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  Jonathan  Parsons 
of  Newburyport,  a  woman  of  remarkably  benevolent  and 
self-denying  spirit.  They  had  five  children,  viz.,  Moses; 
Clarina,  married  to  Elcazar  A.  Jenks,  a  printer  in  Portland  ; 
Ebenezer ;  Simon  ;  and  Jonathan,  who  was  born  in  1785,  and 
is  the  only  survivor.  He  studied  divinity  with  the  Rev. 
Francis  Brown  of  North  Yarmouth,  and  was  ordained  at 
Wells,  Maine,  in  1815  ;  and  in  1843  was  installed  pastor  of 
the  Wallabout  Presbyterian  Church  in  Brooklyn,  New 
York.  While  residing  in  Wells,  he  published  in  1821, 
"  Sketches  of  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  Maine  from  the 
Earliest  Settlement  to  the  Present  Time,"  a  work  admirably 
executed  and  of  standard  authority.  Their  eldest  brother, 
Moses,  was  also  gifted  with  high  intellectual  qualities :  in 
1816,  he  published  "  A  Statistical  A^iew  of  Mahie."  This, 
in  1829,  he  enlarged  into  an  octavo  volume  of  four  hundred 
and  sixty-eight  pages,  entitled,  "  A  Survey  of  the  State  of 
Maine,  in  reference  to  its  Geographical  Features,  Statistics, 
and  Political  Economy  :  Illustrated  by  Maps."  Accompa- 
nying this  was  a  large  map  of  the  State,  and  an  atlas  exhib- 
iting various  features  of  the  State,  titles  to  land,  &c.  These 
works  were  of  high  authority  and  very  valuable. 

Simon  Greenleaf,  the  subject  of  our  notice,  was  born  in 
Newburyport,  December  5,  1788.  He  did  not  accompany 
his  father's  family  to  New  Gloucester  in  1790,  but  was  re- 
tained by  his  grandfather  for  the  advantage  of  the  better 
schools  in  his  native  town.  He  was  educated  at  the  "Latin 
School "  in  Newburyport,  then  under  charge  of  Michael 
Walsh,  who  was  well  known  in  his  day,  and  for  many  years 
in  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  as  the  author  of 


SIMON  GREENLEAF.  625 

the  "  Mercantile  Arithmetic,"  which  -was  not  only  a  popular 
text  book,  but  a  counting-house  companion.  Mr.  Greenleaf 
rapidly  improved  his  advantages,  acquired  a  very  thorough 
knowledge  of  the  Latin  and  English  languages,  and  great 
facility  in  the  use  of  them.  On  leaving  the  academy,  ho 
went  to  New  Gloucester,  and  entered  the  ofiice  of  Ezekiel 
Whitman  as  a  student,  and  boarded  in  his  family.  I  am 
happy  to  be  able  to  give  the  testimony  of  so  discriminating 
an  observer  as  Judge  Whitman  to  the  early  character  of 
Mr.  Greenleaf:  he  said,  "  When  he  came  to  me  in  New 
Gloucester,  he  was  an  excellent  English  and  Latin  scholar, 
and  became  a  very  faithful  and  devoted  student."  He  added, 
"  When  business  called  me  from  home,  I  intrusted  my  office 
business  to  him,  placing  entire  confidence  in  him,  and  was 
never  disappointed  or  deceived."  In  his  family  he  was 
kind,  patient,  and  considerate,  and  won  the  affection  of  all 
the  members  of  it.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  of  Cum- 
berland in  180G,  and  commenced  practice  in  Standish,  but 
the  next  year  he  moved  to  Gray.  Being  the  first  and  the 
only  lawyer  in  the  place,  he  soon  acquired  a  very  considera- 
ble practice,  which  he  retained  and  enlarged  by  his  fidelity 
and  skill.  As  his  family  increased,  he  desired  to  extend 
the  range  of  his  business  and  increase  its  emoluments,  and 
in  1818  he  removed  to  Portland.  At  that  time,  the  two 
leading  meml)crs  of  the  bar  had  been  drawn  aside  from 
their  profession  into  public  life  :  Judge  Mcllen  was  in 
the  United  States  Senate,  and  Judge  Whitman  in  the  House 
of  Representatives  ;  and  Mr.  Orr,  who  had  a  large  practice 
in  Cumberland,  was  also  in  Congress.  This  encouraged  the 
accession  of  otlier  prominent  men  to  Portland :  of  these 
were  Mr.  Greenleaf  and  the  late  Judge  Preble,  who  came 
the  same  year.  !Mr.  Greenleaf  was  not  disappointed :  his 
business  and  his  fame  increased,  and  the  larger  and  more 
cultivated  society,  and  its  superior  advantages  iu  other 


626  SIMON  GREENLEAF. 

respects,  stimulated  his  susceptible  powers  to  higher  efforts. 
He  now  took  rank  among  the  foremost  men  at  the  bar,  and 
by  his  winning  manners,  and  his  persuasive  style  of  speak- 
ing and  address,  accompanied  by  the  skill  and  ingenuity  of 
his  arguments,  established  his  reputation  and  his  practice 
on  a  firm  basis. 

In  the  act  of  the  new  State,  establishing  the  Supreme 
Judicial  Court,  passed  June  24,  1820,  the  governor  and 
council  were  required  "  to  appoint  some  suitable  person 
learned  in  the  law,  to  be  a  reporter  of  the  decisions  of  the 
Supreme  Judicial  Court,"  whose  duty  it  was  made  to  obtain 
true  and  authentic  reports  of  cases  decided  by  the  court, 
and  publish  them,  whenever  they  would  compose  a  suitable 
volume.  His  compensation  was  fixed  at  six  hundred  dollars 
a  year  salary,  and  the  profits  arising  from  the  publication. 
Mr.  Greenlcaf  was  immediately  appointed  reporter  under 
this  act,  and  entered  on  his  duties  at  York,  August  term, 
1820.  He  continued  faithfully,  promptly,  and  very  ably 
to  discharge  the  duties  of  this  arduous  and  responsible 
office  for  twelve  years,  closing  with  the  July  term  at  Waldo 
in  1832.  The  cases  determined  during  this  period  are  con- 
tained in  nine  volumes,  the  last  embracing  a  table  of  cases, 
and  a  digest  of  the  whole.  Tlie  judges  were, — Mellen,  chief 
justice,  and  Weston,  judge,  through  the  whole  period  ; 
Judge  Preble  to  1828  ;  and  Judge  Parris  the  remainder  of 
the  time.  The  reports  arc  distinguished  for  the  clear  and 
concise  manner  in  which  the  points  of  law  are  stated,  and 
the  arguments  of  counsel  given  :  they  took  high  rank  in 
this  class  of  legal  productions,  and  were  received  as  stand- 
ards of  authority  throughout  the  Ujiion.  They  were  de- 
servedly considered  among  the  most  valuable  of  American 
reports,  and  so  highly  were  they  esteemed  that  a  new  edi- 
tion was  demanded  by  the  profession,  —  a  very  rare  tiling  in 
this  class  of  works,  —  which  was  published  with  annotations 


SIMON   GREENLEAP.  527 

by  Mr.  Abbot  of  Cambridge,  a  short  time  previous  to  Mr. 
Greenleaf's  death. 

Ill  1821,  while  engaged  in  his  office  of  reporter  and  his 
extended  practice,  increased  by  his  attending  the  circuits 
through  the  several  counties,  he  employed  [himself  in  the 
preparation  and  publication  of  "  A  Collection  of  Cases, 
Overruled,  Doubted,  or  Limited  in  their  application.  Taken 
from  American  and  English  Reports."  Professor  Parsons 
of  the  Cambridge  Law  School,  in  a  notice  of  Professor 
Greenleaf's  death,  gives  the  following  interesting  account  of 
the  origin  of  this  useful  little  work.  He  says,  "  His  first 
law  book  sprang,  as  we  have  his  own  authority  for  saying, 
from  this  circumstance.  Very  early  in  his  professional 
career,  he  had  given  an  opinion,  and  argued  a  case  which 
grew  out  of  his  opinion,  upon  the  authority  of  an  English 
decision,  which  seemed  to  be  applicable  and  decisive.  But 
the  court  informed  him  that  this  case  had  been  overruled, 
and  had  no  authority  whatever.  He  determined  at  once  to 
ascertain,  as  far  as  he  could,  which  of  the  apparently  au- 
thoritative cases  in  the  reports  had  lost  their  force,  and  to 
give  the  information  to  the  profession.  The  idea  was  origi- 
nal, the  execution  good,  and  the  book  very  useful."  But 
Prof.  Parsons  observes,  if  he  could  have  had  access  to  a  more 
complete  library  of  Reports,  he  might  have  made  it  more 
full  and  useful. 

By  his  unceasing  application,  his  genius,  and  his  increas- 
ing experience,  Mv.  Grcenleaf  advanced  himself  into  the 
foremost  rank  of  the  profession  :  the  eminent  lawyers  who 
had  been  moving  onward  with  him,  were  gradually  with- 
drawing from  the  bar,  —  Judges  Mellon,  Whitman,  and 
Preble  to  the  bench,  Mr.  Longfellow  by  ill  healtii,  and  Mr. 
Orr  in  1828  by  death  ;  thus  making  a  larger  opening  for 
the  learning  and  talents  of  the  younger  members  who  were 
pressing  forward  fur  distinction :   among  those  wore  Mr. 


628  SIMON  GREENLEAF. 

Greciileaf,  Gcii.  Fesscndcn,  Mr.  Davies,  and  others  still 
younger.  So  conspicuous  had  Mr.  Grecnleaf  become  about 
the  time  that  he  closed  his  duties  as  reporter,  that  the  at- 
tention of  Judge  Story,  then  at  the  head  of  the  law  school 
at  Cambridge,  was  turned  to  him,  as  the  most  suitable  per- 
son to  supply  the  vacancy  in  that  department  of  the  univer- 
sity, rendered  vacant  by  the  death  of  the  lamented  Prof. 
Ashmun.  We  are  indebted  to  Prof.  Parsons's  address  before 
quoted,  to  a  little  private  history  on  this  subject,  which  it 
may  not  be  uninteresting  to  our  readers  to  review.  Mr. 
Parsons  says,  "  He  succeeded  Prof.  Aslnnun  in  1833,  as 
Royall  Professor.  It  was,  as  I  have  always  imderstood,  at 
Judge  Story's  suggestion  that  Mr.  Greenleaf  was  solicited 
to  leave  Portland,  and  take  upon  himself  these  new  duties. 
I  have  been  told,  but  not  by  Mr  Greenleaf,  that  Judge 
Story,  holding  his  court  in  Portland,  had  there  an  interest- 
ing case  in  admiralty.  At  that  time,  this  branch  of  the  law 
was  known  only  in  our  largest  commercial  cities,  and  not  to 
many  of  the  profession  there.  And  Judge  Story  was  sur- 
prised when  he  found  that  Mr  Greenleaf  brought  to  this 
case,  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  this  very  peculiar  sys- 
tem of  law,  which  he  himself  deemed  of  great  importance, 
and  which,  foreseeing  its  constantly  increasing  value,  he 
wished  to  make  prominent  in  the  instruction  of  the  school. 
And  he  immediately  determined  to  bring  Mr.  Greenleaf  to 
Cambridge,  if  he  could." 

The  case  above  referred  to  as  attracting  the  notice  of 
Judge  Story,  was  similar,  perhaps,  to  one  of  which  the  fol- 
lowing anecdote  is  related.  Mr.  Grccnlcafs  father  was  not 
only  a  ship-carpenter,  but  an  accurate  draughtsman,  and 
he  took  much  pains  in  teaching  his  boys  the  art  of  con- 
structing a  vessel.  Simon,  in  this,  was  his  most  apt  scholar: 
the  benefit  of  which  was  shown  in  his  legal  practice.  On 
one  occasion,  ho  was  engaged  in  an  insurance  cause :  the 


SIMON  GREENLEAF.  529 

vessel  insured  had  been  injured  by  pounding  upon  the  bot- 
tom or  side  wliile  lying  at  a  wharf.  The  defense  was,  that 
the  injury  was  occasioned  by  carelessness  in  the  insured  in 
not  securing  her  to  the  wharf,  alleging  the  damage  to  have 
been  in  her  side  and  not  her  bottom.  One  of  the  witnesses 
for  the  plaintiff  was  a  master-builder,  who  had  repaired  the 
ship,  and  who,  having  testified  that  the  injury  was  on  the 
bottom,  was  thus  cross-examined  by  Mr.  Greenleaf.  "  You 
are  a  ship-carpenter,  and  master  of  your  trade  ?"  "  Yes.'* 
"  In  building  a  vessel,  after  laying  your  keel,  you  place  a 
row  of  crooked  timbers  cross-wise,  securing  them  to  the 
keel  with  iron  bolts  ?"  "  Yes."  "  These  you  call  floor 
timbers?  ^^  "Yes."  "Between  these  floor  timbers  the 
end  of  another  crooked  timber  is  inserted,  as  you  would  in- 
sert the  fingers  of  one  hand  between  those  of  another,  and 
these  you  coW  foot  hook  (futtuck)  timber?"  "Yes." 
"  And  so  you  proceed,  filling  in  rows  of  crooked  timbers, 
until  you  reach  the  top,  calling  the  third  the  rising  timber, 
then  the  naval  timber^  and  then  the  top  timber  ?  "  "  Yes." 
"Now,"  said  Mr.  Greenleaf,  "state  to  the  jury,  on  your 
oath,  what  kind  of  a  timber  you  furnished  for  the  repairing 
of  that  vessel.  Was  it  a  floor  timber,  a  foot  hook,  a  rising 
or  a  naval  timber  ?"  "  It  was  a  naval  timber,"  said  the 
witness.  The  case  was  clear,  the  jury  saw  it  at  a  glance. 
The  injury  was  on  the  side  of  the  vessel,  and  not  on  the 
bottom  :  it  was  from  carelessness  and  not  accident,  and  the 
defense  was  sustained.  For  this  anecdote  I  am  indebted 
to  his  brother  Jonathan,  and  it  well  illustrates  his  ingenu- 
ity and  the  advantage  of  his  early  attention  to  the  details  of 
the  mechanic  arts,  in  wliich  he  was  quite  proficient. 

He  entered  upon  the  important  duties  of  his  professor- 
ship, a  new  and  untried  course  of  life,  in  ISSS-,  when  there 
were  but  about  fifty  students  in  the  school,  and  closed  his 
labors  in  it  by  resignation  in  1848,  when  the  number  was 


530  SIMON   GREENLEAF. 

about  one  luindrcd  and  fifty. ^  The  duties  of  his  professor- 
ship, and  those  which  he  voluntarily  assumed  and  per- 
formed, were  too  much  for  his  health,  and  he  retired  from 
liis  office  with  a  shattered  constitution.  For  thirteen  years, 
from  1833  to  184G,  he  and  Judge  Story  labored  together  to 
build  up  this  valuable  school.  To  use  the  language  of 
Prof.  Parsons,  "  They  worked  harmoniously  and  success- 
fully, and  perhaps  the  more  harmoniously,  because  they 
were  so  entirely  different.  With  much  in  common,  for 
both  were  able,  learned,  and  of  the  most  devoted  industry, 
there  were  other  traits  that  belonged  to  one  or  the  other  of 
them  exclusively.  Greenleaf  was  singularly  calm,  finding 
strength  in  his  very  stillness,  always  cautious,  and  therefore 
always  exact ;  Story  was  as  vivid  and  impulsive  as  man 
could  be.  His  words  flowed  like  a  flood ;  but  it  was  be- 
cause his  emotions  and  his  thoughts  demanded  a  flood  as 
their  exponent,  and  Story's  manner  was  most  peculiar : 
everybody  listened  when  he  spoke,  for  he  carried  one  away 
with  the  irresistible  attraction  of  his  own  swift  motion. 
And  Greenleaf, —  somewhat  slow  and  measured  in  his  enun- 
ciation,— by  the  charm  of  his  silver  voice,  the  singular  felic- 
ity of  his  expressions,  and  the  smooth  flow  of  his  untroub- 
led stream  of  thought,  caught  and  held  the  attention  of 
every  listener  as  few  men  can."  In  connection  with  this 
office,  Mr.  Parsons  again  says,  "  If  Mr.  Greenleaf  could 
himself  have  directed  the  course  of  one  who  was  to  con- 
struct a  memorial  of  him,  assuredly  he  would  have  given 
special  prominence  to  that  which  was  not  only  the  scene  of 
his  long-continued  usefulness,  but  the  object  with  which  he 

1  "  The  exact  number  of  students  who  liave  been  in  the  Law  School  during 
Mr.  Greenleaf  s  connection  with  it  is  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  five. 
During  the  same  period,  upwards  of  ten  thousand  volumes  have  been  added 
to  the  library,  at  the  cost  of  over  twenty-six  thousand  dollars." — Law  Rep. 
11,190. 


SIMON   GREENLEAF.  531 

was  most  earnestly,  most  devoutly,  and  most  successfully 
identified."  In  1846,  after  the  death  of  Judge  Story,  he 
was  appointed  as  his  successor  in  the  Dane  Professorship,  in 
which  he  continued  until  his  resignation  in  1848. 

The  current  of  testimony  was  strong  and  uniform  to  the 
very  able  and  satisfactory  manner  in  which  he  discharged 
the  duties  of  his  professorship.  The  numerous  pupils,  who, 
during  his  labors,  partook  of  the  benefit  of  his  instruction 
and  his  counsel,  scattered  all  over  our  country,  cherish  a 
sweet  recollection  of  the  eloquent  and  persuasive  lessons 
which  it  was  their  privilege  to  receive  from  him.  The  Fac- 
ulty of  the  college  were  most  unwilling  to  lose  his  services, 
but  yielded  to  a  paramount  necessity.  And  they  bestowed 
upon  him  the  honorary  title  of  Emeritus  Professor,  which 
he  bore  as  long  as  he  lived.  They  also  bestowed  upon  him 
the  degree  of  LL.  D.  in  1834,  in  which  they  were  followed 
by  Amherst  in  1845,  and  Alabama  in  1852. 

The  whole  life  of  Prof.  Greenleaf  was  filled  with  useful 
and  honorable  labor, —  "  Actis  oBVum  implct,  non  seg-nibus 
ajinis.'^  —  But  the  fifteen,  nay,  the  twenty  years  in  which  he 
resided  in  Cambridge  were  the  most  busy  portion  of  his  life. 
In  addition  to  his  lectures  and  the  duties  incident  to  his 
professorship,  he  was  incessantly  at  work  upon  his  books. 
During  this  period,  he  published  a  second  edition  of  his 
Reports  with  notes ;  in  1842,  his  first  volume  "  On  the  Law 
of  Evidence  ;  "  in  1846,  the  second  volume  ;  and  in  1853,  the 
third  volume.  In  1849,  appeared  the  first  volume  of  his 
edition  of  "  Cruise's  Digest  of  the  Law  of  Real  Property ;  " 
and  in  1850,  the  second  and  third  volumes  —  all  these  vol- 
umes were  in  royal  octavo.  In  1841,  he  prepared,  at  the 
request  of  the  Cumberland  Bar,  a  memoir  of  Chief  Justice 
Mellen,  which  was  published  as  an  Appendix  to  the  seven- 
teenth volume  of  the  Maine  Reports.  In  1845,  he  delivered 
a  eulogy  on  Judge  Story,  which  was  published.     This  was 


582  SIMON   GREENLEAF. 

a  beautiful  tribute  to  the  memory  of  a  great  man,  an  hon- 
orable literary  eflfort.  In  a  notice  of  it  in  the  Law  Reporter 
for  December,  1845,  is  this  remark  :  "  It  is  entirely  free  from 
the  defects  of  extravagant  and  indiscriminate  praise,  to 
which  eulogies  are  peculiarly  exposed.  It  is  calm  and 
conscientious.  It  is  also  a  production  of  much  literary 
merit.  It  has  that  simplicity  and  transparency  of  stylo 
wliich  we  always  notice  in  Prof.  Grecnleaf's  publications." 
His  discourse  on  his  inauguration  in  1833,  was  published  in 
that  year.  Several  communications  from  him  appeared  in 
the  Law  Reporter,  viz.,  in  1839,  L,  345,  "Remarks  on  the 
Exclusion  of  Atheists  as  Witnesses  ;"  in  the  April  number, 
1847,  "  The  Rule  of  Damages  in  Actions  ex  Delicto."  In 
1845,  he  published  "  Testamentary  Counsels  and  Hints  to 
Christians  on  the  Right  Distribution  of  their  Property  by 
Will:  By  a  Retired  Solicitor."  In  1846,  he  published  "  An 
Examination  of  the  Testimony  of  the  Four  Evangelists  by 
the  Rules  of  Evidence  administered  in  Courts  of  Justice  ; 
with  an  account  of  the  Trial  of  Jesus."  This  was  repub- 
lished in  London  in  184G.  Besides  these,  he  printed  "  A 
Catalogue  of  a  Select  Law  Library  ;"  "  A  Course  of  Legal 
Studies ;"  "  A  Letter  to  a  Lawyer :  By  a  member  of  the 
Profession,"  which  was  published  as  a  tract  by  the  Ameri- 
can Tract  Society. 

The  continued  pressure  upon  mind  and  body  in  the  prep- 
aration and  publication  of  these  valuable  works  could  not 
but  make  serious  inroads  upon  a  system  of  the  strongest 
model,  much  more  upon  one  not  gifted  with  the  highest 
physical  properties.  No  wonder  that  the  silver  cord  was 
loosened  by  the  great  tension  upon  it,  or  that  the  golden 
bowl  which  fed  the  lamp  of  life  was  broken.  He  gave  no 
margin  of  his  life  to  recreation,  except  from  one  field  of 
mental  activity  to  another :  the  consequence  was  that  he 
fell  exhausted  by  life's  toil :  lie  was  cut  down  suddenly,  with 


SIMON   GREENLEAF.  633 

his  harness  all  on,  in  the  midst  of  his  labors.  He  died  on 
the  6th  of  October,  1853,  at  the  age  of  seventy,  "  in  the  full 
maturity  of  his  powers,  and  the  meridian  of  his  fame." 

Mr.  Greenleaf  had  neither  leisure  nor  taste  to  engage  in 
politics.  His  political  opinions  were  always  firm  and  de- 
cided as  a  federalist  of  the  old  school,  and  he  never  hesi- 
tated to  express  them.  But  he  was  no  partisan,  and  the 
farthest  remove  from  a  demagogue.  In  181G,  he  was  pro- 
posed as  a  candidate  for  the  Senate  of  Massachusetts  from 
Cumberland  County,  with  Lathrop  Lewis,  but  the  opposition 
candidates  were  elected  by  a  small  majority.  h\  1820  and 
1821,  he,  with  Asa  Clapp  and  Nicholas  Emery,  represented 
Portland  in  the  Legislature  of  Maine.  As  these  were  ses- 
sions when  the  new  government  was  put  in  operation,  the 
duty  was  responsible,  and  to  a  lawyer  who  was  expected  to 
pass  upon  the  code  of  laws  to  be  adopted  on  careful  revision, 
arduous.  Mr.  Greenleaf  was  faithful  to  his  trust,  and  ben- 
eficial to  the  country.  With  this  experience,  he  retired  at 
once  and  forever  from  political  office. 

Mr.  Greenleaf,  in  August,  180G,  married  Hannah  King- 
man, a  daughter  of  Capt.  Ezra  Kingman  of  East  Bridge- 
water,  Massachusetts,  by  whom  he  had  fifteen  children, — 
eleven  of  whom  died  in  infancy.  The  survivors  are  two 
sons  and  two  dauglitcrs :  the  daughters  married  Episcopal 
clergymen, —  Charlotte  Kingman,  the  Rev.  Samuel  Fuller  ; 
and  Caroline  Augusta,  the  Rev.  Andrew  Croswell :  of  the 
sons,  Patrick  Henry  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College  in  1825, 
was  educated  for  the  bar,  and  practiced  sometime  in  Port- 
land,—  he  afterwards  became,  and  is  now,  an  Episcopal 
minister :  James  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1834, 
was  a  merchant  in  New  Orleans  at  the  l)rcaking  out  of  the 
great  Rebellion,  and  now  resides  in  Cambridge,  Massachu- 
setts :  he  married  a  daughter  of  his  father's  cherished 
friend,  Stephen  Longfellow. 


534  SIMON   GREENLEAF. 

As  a  writer  and  author,  Professor  Greenleaf  stands  deserv- 
edly high,  and  may  be  ranked,  among  Ai^^rican  authors,  in 
the  class  with  the  learned  jurists,  Kent  and  Story.  The 
estimation  in  which  his  works  are  held,  and  their  merits, 
may  be  inferred  from  the  following  remarks  of  Professor 
Parsons :  "  His  reports  are  among  the  most  valuable  of 
American  Reports  :  his  edition  of  Cruise  has  entirely  super- 
seded, for  American  use,  the  English  edition.  It  is,  how- 
ever, in  his  work  on  the  Law  of  Evidence,  that  we  find 
the  best  proof  of  his  industry,  his  learning,  and  his  sagacity. 
He  certainly  intended  it,  at  first,  mainly  as  a  manual  for 
students.  But  the  profession  took  it  up ;  and,  as  repeated 
editions  were  demanded,  it  grew  upon  his  hands  ;  and  has 
grown  equally  in  public  favor,  until  it  has  overcome  all 
competition,  and  become  the  book  which  every  student  and 
every  practicing  lawyer  must  have.  How  completely  it  has 
monopolized  the  public  favor,  may  be  inferred  from  the  fact, 
that  of  the  several  volumes,  there  have  been  printed  in  this 
country,  —  if  we  include  the  second  edition  of  the  third 
volume  now  going  through  the  press, —  but  very  little  less 
than  thirty  thousand  copies." 

It  may  be  interesting  to  those  who  never  saw  Mr.  Green- 
leaf,  to  have  a  portrait  of  him,  drawn  by  a  familiar  hand.  ^ 
His  brother  Jonathan,  in  his  "  Genealogy,"  says :  "  Mr. 
Greenleaf  was  a  grave,  sedate-looking  man,  and  very  quiet 
in  his  movements.  He  was  about  five  feet  ten  inches  in 
height,  rather  stout  built,  full  face,  with  a  small,  sharp  eye, 
nearly  black:  His  original  hair  was  very  dark  brown."  I 
may  add  from  my  own  personal  observation,  that  his  com- 
plexion was  sallow,  his  posture  a  little  stooping,  with  his 
head  projecting  forward :  his  countenance  was  expressive  of 

I  Since  writing  this  memoir,  we  have  been  able  to  obtain  an  excellent 
portrait  of  Prof.  Greenleaf  to  adorn  our  volume,  to  which  we  take  pleasure 
to  refer  our  readers. 


SIMON .  GREENLEAP.  635 

benignity  and  intelligence.  His  brother  thus  continues  his 
personal  description :  "  Religion  was  not  with  him  a  dry- 
system  of  doctrines,  but  a  living  and  active  principle  of  love 
to  God  and  love  to  man.  For  the  last  thirty  years  of  his 
life,  he  was  one  of  the  most  spiritually-minded  men,  evi- 
dently intent  on  walking  humbly  with  God,  and  doing 
good  to  the  bodies  and  souls  of  his  fellow-men.  Thus  he 
moved  quietly  on  as  years  increased  upon  him,  with  the  evi- 
dence of  his  piety  becoming  brighter  and  brighter,  especially 
to  those  who  saw  him  in  private  life." 

Some  other  traits  of  character  we  notice  in  a  brief  bio- 
graphical sketch  published  in  the  Cambridge  Chronicle  im- 
mediately after  his  death.  "As  an  instructor,  he  was 
greatly  beloved,  and  his  lectures  were  clear,  distinct,  and 
practical.  As  a  counsellor,  he  was  clear,  safe,  and  practical. 
His  advice  was  always  characterised  by  a  weight  of  com- 
mon sense  as  well  as  legal  skill.  As  a  man,  he  possessed  a 
weight  of  character  which  insured  for  him  the  esteem  of  all 
who  enjoyed  his  society,  or  came  within  the  circle  of  his 
influence.  Affable,  polite,  courteous,  frank,  and  liberal- 
minded,  he  secured  the  confidence  of  his  fellow  citizens  and 
neighbors.  Combined  with  varied  and  legal  attainments, 
he  possessed  great  simplicity  of  character,  which  seemed  to 
set  off  as  in  bold  relief,  those  characteristics  for  which  he 
was  so  truly  distinguished." 

The  bar  of  Suffolk  and  Cumberland,  on  receiving  tidings 
of  the  death  of  Prof.  Greenleaf,  immediately  held  meetings, 
and  adopted  appropriate  and  feeling  resolutions.  At  the 
assemblage  of  the  Suffolk  Bar,  the  venerable  Justice  Wilde 
presided,  and  made  some  suitable  remarks  on  the  pro- 
fessional life,  eminence,  and  character  of  Mr.  Greenleaf. 
Charles  G.  Loring  submitted  the  resolutions  with  a  few  in- 
troductory oljservations.  One  of  the  resolutions  was  as  fol- 
lows :  "  That  as  Americans,  wo  owe  him  a  debt  of  grati- 


536  SIMON   GREENLEAP. 

tilde,  for  by  his  science  and  erudition,  lie  has  illustrated  the 
judicial  literature  of  his  country  at  home  and  abroad,  and 
added  another  American  name  with  those  of  Story,  Kent, 
and  Wheaton,  to  the  great  legal  authors  of  Christendom. 
That  by  his  laborious,  genial,  and  successful  services  as 
teacher  of  the  law,  in  the  school  at  Cambridge,  he  has 
deserved  the  gratitude  of  his  country."  Judge  Hoar,  in 
response  to  the  resolutions  presented  in  court,  said, 
"Among  those  eminent  lawyers,  who  have  never  held  judi- 
cial station,  the  name  and  opinions  of  Mr.  Greenlcaf  stand 
highest  as  authority,  in  all  matters  of  law.  I  consider  his 
death  a  great  public  loss." 

Judge  Emery  presided  at  a  meeting  of  the  Cumberland 
Bar,  held  October  11th,  and  Charles  S.  Daveis  presented  tho 
resolutions,  which  paid  a  high  tribute  to  the  intellectual 
and  moral  worth  of  Mr.  Greenleaf,  and  an  affectionate  rec- 
ollection of  the  kind  and  social  relations  that  had  existed 
between  them.  One  of  the  resolutions  thus  speaks :  "  Re- 
solved, That  under  a  sense  of  the  solemn  impression  pro- 
duced by  his  lamented  loss,  and  the  length  of  time  to  which 
his  works  may  last,  we  could  not  better  express  our  affec- 
tionate regard  for  his  worth,  and  render  more  justice  to  his 
memory  than  by  the  inscription  suitable  to  be  placed  on  his 
monument,  that  it  was  the  aim  of  his  instructions  and 
writings,  in  accordance  with  the  purpose  of  his  life,  to  im- 
prove the  tone,  and  raise  the  standard  of  professional  mor- 
ality, no  less  than  the  scale  of  legal  excellence ;  and  that 
he  sought  to  sustain  the  solemn  sanctions  of  the  divine  law, 
by  exhibiting  confirmed  grounds  of  evidence  in  attestation 
of  Christian  truth." 

Mr.  Daveis  spoke  feelingly  to  the  resolutions,  and  in  high 
commendation  of  Mr.  Greenleaf,  as  did  also  Judges  Emery 
and  Parris,  Gen.  Fessenden,  and  others. 


CALVIN  SELDEN.  637 

CALVIN     SELDEN.      1808  —  1859. 

Calvin  Selden  of  Xorridgewock  died  November  29tb, 
1859,  at  the  age  of  eighty.  Mr.  Selden  was  a  descendant, 
in  the  sixth  degree,  from  Thomas  Selden,  one  of  the  com- 
pany of  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  who  came  over  to 
Cambridge,  Massachusetts,  in  October,  1633 ;  from  which 
place  he  migrated  to  Hartford,  Connecticut,  in  1G36,  and 
was  made  freeman  in  1640.  The  parents  of  Mr.  Selden 
were  Joseph  and  Susannah  (  Smith )  Selden  of  Haddam, 
Connecticut,  where  he  was  born  February  28th,  1779. 

Mr.  Selden  spent  the  early  part  of  his  life  on  his  father's 
farm  ;  but  having  a  desire  for  an  education,  he  changed  the 
course  of  his  pursuits.  His  father  wishing  him  to  become 
a  minister,  he  prepared  for  college,  and  entered  Dartmouth, 
from  which  he  took  his  degree  in  1803,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-four.  A  certificate  from  President  Wheelock,  at 
this  time,  is  so  honorable  to  this  graduate,  that  I  will  not 
withhold  an  extract  from  it.  "  He  is  a  young  gentleman  of 
talents  and  unblemished  moral  and  religious  character,  of 
respectable  acquirements  in  the  different  branches  of  colle- 
giate literature,  and  of  accomplishments  in  music." 

He  immediately  after  took  charge  of  the  Gilmanton 
Academy  in  New  Hampshire,  which  he  kept  for  two  years, 
at  the  same  time  pursuing  his  studies  in  divinity.  He  was 
duly  licensed  as  a  preacher,  and  officiated  in  several 
parishes,  but  his  performances  not  coming  up  to  his  own 
ideal  of  excellence,  he  suddenly  abandoned  that  profession, 
and  devoted  himself  to  law.  On  being  admitted  to  the  bar, 
he  came  to  Norridgewock  in  the  autumn  of  1808,  at  a  most 
favorable  juncture.  Efforts  were  then  making  for  the 
establishment  of  a  new  county  from  the  territory  constitut- 
ing the  northern  part  of  Kennebec,  which  resulted  in  the 
incorporation  of  Somerset  County,  March  1st,  1809,  with 
85 


538  CALVIN   SELDEN. 

Norridgc^ock  for  its  sliire-town.  At  that  place,  a  large 
trade  was  carried  on  by  Messrs.  Ware  and  Sawtelle, 
who  with  ample  means  were  extending  their  business  in 
every  direction.  Mr.  Selden  entered  at  once  upon  a  suc- 
cessful course  of  practice,  to  which  he  brought  a  high 
character  for  integrity,  considerable  experience,  and  good 
business  qualities.  He  soon  acquired  the  confidence  of  the 
whole  community,  and  took  a  prominent  position  at  the  bar 
and  among  the  people.  In  1810,  '11,  and  '12,  he  "vVas  chosen  , 
to  represent  the  town  in  the  Legislature,  and  again  in  1829  ; 
and  acquired  reputation  in  this  department,  so  that  in  1812 
his  name  was  proposed  for  one  of  the  justices  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas,  to  fill  the  vacancy  occasioned  by  the 
declension  of  Judah  McLellan.  He  failed  to  obtain  the 
appointment,  not  for  want  of  the  necessary  qualifications, 
but  the  greater  influence  which  was  brought  to  bear  in 
favor  of  another  candidate,  Ebenezer  Thatcher.  He  was, 
however,  soon  after  appointed  chief  justice  of  the  court  of 
sessions,  and  one  of  the  commissioners  for  building  a  court- . 
house  for  the  new  county.  He  was  also  much  employed  in 
the  financial  and  prudential  affairs  of  the  town,  as  agent, 
clerk,  and  selectman.  In  all  these  public  employments, 
Mr.  Selden  sustained  the  character  of  an  able,  honest,  and 
faithful  servant,  looking  always  carefully  and  judiciously 
after  the  public  interests,  and  giving  entire  satisfaction  in 
the  numerous  and  various  concerns  intrusted  to  his  man- 
agement. 

Mr.  Selden  was  a  many-sided  man,  and  seems  to  have 
had  wonderful  facilities  of  adaptation  to  the  different  j)osi- 
tions  which  lie  was  called  to  fill,  or  to  which  lie  gave  liis 
energies.  After  successfully  practicing  law  a  few  years,  he 
formed  a  partnership  with  Mr.  Fairfield,  to  wlioin  the  law 
business  was  gradually  intrusted,  while  he  engaged  in  trade 
as  a  partner  in  the  prosperous  house  of  Messrs.  Ware  & 


CALVIN   SELDEN.  689 

Fletcher,  which  was  doing  the  most  extensive  business  of 
any  firm  in  that  part  of  the  country.  Here  he  rapidly 
accumulated  property,  sufficient,  it  would  seem,  to  satisfy 
his  humble  ambition ;  for  in  about  eight  years  he  quitted 
mercantile  and  for  most  part  his  legal  employments,  and  de- 
voted himself  heartily  and  practically  to  the  cultivation  of  the 
soil.  In  this  primitive  and  most  independent  pursuit,  he 
was  no  less  successful  than  in  the  various  other  employments 
to  which  he  had  given  his  attention.  He  changed  so  readily 
from  one  staple  pursuit  to  another  that  it  would  seem  to 
indicate  instability  or  fickleness  of  character ;  but  the  suc- 
cess which  attended  each  change  justified  his  course,  and 
helped  him  on  in  the  career  of  usefulness  and  prosperity, 
and  thus  confirmed  the  soundness  of  his  judgment.  On  the 
formation  of  the  Agricultural  Society  of  Somerset,  in  1821, 
he  was  chosen  its  first  president,  and  was  the  most  efficient 
member  in  introducing  improvements  in  the  various  depart- 
ments of  agricultural  labor. 

In  1812,  Mr.  Sclden  formed  a  matrimonial  connection 
with  Harriet,  a  daughter  of  Mr.  Sawtelle,  the  former  part- 
ner of  Mr.  "Ware,  by  whom  he  had  five  children,  two 
daughters  and  three  sons.  One  daughter,  Sarah  S.,  married 
James  McCobb,  Esq.,  of  Portland;  the  other,  Mary  "W.  S., 
the  Rev.  Mr.  Burgess  of  Portland,  and  is  dead.  Edward 
C,  the  oldest  son,  died  in  California  in  18G2.  Henry  I.  is 
commission  merchant  in  New  York,  and  James  R.,  in  San 
Francisco. 

This  aged  and  respected  man  —  the  preceptor,  minister, 
lawyer,  merchant,  magistrate,  and  farmer  —  facile  princepSy 
died  at  the  age  of  eighty  years  and  nine  months. 

The  bar  of  Somerset,  still  holding  on  to  him  as  a  member 
of  their  fraternity,  and  valuing  the  traditions  of  his  connec- 
tion with  them,  at  a  meeting  held  for  the  purpose,  on  the 
ensuing  term  of  the  court,   adopted  very  complimentary 


540  CALVIN   SELDEN. 

resolutions  in  relation  to  their  deceased  brother,  which  were 
ordered  to  be  placed  on  the  records  of  the  court.  Mr. 
Hutchinson,  one  of  the  elders  of  the  bar,  and  since  dead, 
in  announcing  the  death,  spoke  of  him  as  the  oldest  member 
of  the  bar,  and  said  that,  although  he  had  left  the  active 
duties  of  the  profession  for  several  years,  "  he  was  never 
wholly  absent  from  the  courts,  up  to  the  time  of  his  death, 
but  was  with  lis  at  every  term." 

Among  his  classmates  were  Henry  Hubbard,  late  M.  C. 
from  New  Hampshire ;  the  distinguished  physicians  Drs. 
Mussey  and  Sliattuck,  and  Chief  Justice  Weston  of  our 
State.  I  cannot  more  fittingly  close  this  brief  sketch,  than 
by  adopting  the  language  of  Chief  Justice  Weston,  written 
a  few  days  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Selden.     He  says : 

"  We  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1803  :  Mr.  Selden 
was  a  few  years  older  than  myself.  *  *  In  our  junior 
year,  we  were  both  members  of  the  Phi-Beta-Kappa  Society. 
He  was  highly  respected  by  the  faculty  and  by  his  fellow 
students,  for  his  application  to  study,  and  for  the  faithful 
discharge  of  his  various  duties.  He  maintained  there,  as  iu 
after  life,  the  character  of  a  man  eminent  for  prudence  and 
discretion.  While  at  college,  he  was  a  professor  of  religion, 
and  I  think  never  lost  sight  of  the  high  and  solemn  duties 
the  profession  imposed.  He  steadily  manifested,  in  his 
deportment  and  social  intercourse,  a  strict  attention  to  the 
proprieties  of  life,  and  a  kind  and  friendly  regard  to  others. 
He  was  modest  in  his  deportment,  but  not  wanting  in  self- 
respect,  which  no  one  in  his  presence  would  ever  presume 
to  invade.     He  was  manly,  but  genial. 

He  was  not  a  man  of  display,  seeking  distinction  as  a 
scholar,  and  was,  therefore,  not  stimulated  to  the  severe 
labor  and  exertion  with  which  it  is  generally  purchased. 
Tlie  same  moderation  in  his  aspirations  attended  him  in 
after  life.    The  path  of  ambition  had  few  attractions  for 


i^ 


lC>'-t/^^!^f' 


1830  at  thea^e  o£  46. 


<^^ 


CALVIN  SELDEN:   SAMUEL   FESSENDEN.  541 

him,  either  as  a  literary,  professional,  or  political  man. 
Few  men  have  had  a  more  prosperous  career  through  a  long 
life.  Health,  friends,  ease,  comparative  affluence,  and  tiie 
respect  of  the  community,  were  his.  These  were  elements 
of  happiness,  the  value  of  which  he  appreciated ;  and  with 
these  he  was  satisfied. 

It  is  nearly  two  years  since  I  saw  him.  He  was  then 
about  eighty ;  erect,  vigorous,  and  very  little  changed 
in  person  from  the  period  of  our  first  acquaintance.  I  have 
never  known  a  man  so  little  marked  by  the  hand  of  time 
for  sixty  years." 

SAMUEL     FESSENDEN.      180  9  — 

The  venerable  Samuel  Fessenden,  now,  with  one  excep- 
tion, the  oldest  resident  member  of  the  Cumberland  Bar,  was 
the  early  contemporary  of  Mr.  Greenleaf,  and  a  competitor, 
of  equal  ardor  and  ability,  for  the  practice,  in  the  interior 
of  Cumberland  County. 

Mr.  Fessenden  —  or,  as  we  shall  call  him.  General  Fessen- 
den, for  he  is  universally  known  by  that  title  —  was  the 
son  of  the  Rev.  William  Fessenden,  of  Fryeburg,  Maine, 
where  the  General  was  born,  July  16,  1784.  His  father 
was  descended  from  Nicholas  Fessenden,  who  was  born  in 
England,  in  1651,  and  came  to  Cambridge  in  New  England, 
previous  to  1674. 

John  Fessenden,  the  first  of  the  name  who  came  to  this 
country,  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  in  Cambridge,  Massa- 
chusetts, and  was  admitted  a  freeman  in  1641.  He  was 
by  trade  a  saddler,  and  died  without  issue.  Nicholas,  his 
nephew,  was  his  heir,  and  probably  came  over  to  settle  and 
enjoy  the  estate :  he  had  fourteen  children  by  his  wife,  Mar- 
garet Cheney.  His  son  Benjamin,  educated  at  Harvard 
College,  went  to  Sandwich,  and  is  the  ancestor  of  the  Fes- 


542  SAMUEL   FESSENDEN. 

seiidens  in  that  quarter.  The  branch  in  Maine  descended 
from  William,  born  in  1693,  who  married  Martha  Wyeth 
in  1716,  and  had  eleven  children.  His  oldest  son,  William, 
born  December,  1718,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College, 
1737,  was  a  schoolmaster,  and  licensed  to  preach,  but  did 
not  follow  the  vocation.  He  married  Mary  Palmer,  March 
31,  1740,  by  whom  he  had  six  children  :  one  of  whom  was 
William,  the  father  of  Samuel,  who  was  born  November  3, 
1747,  old  style,  and  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1768. 
He  was  settled  the  first  minister  of  the  first  parish  in  Frye- 
hurg,  October  11,  1775  ;  in  which  office  he  continued  about 
thirty  years,  to  the  time  of  his  death.  May  6,  1805.  He  was 
a  man  of  sterling  qualities,  earnest  and  devout,  and  died 
deeply  lamented.  He  was  twice  married :  first  to  Sarah 
Reed  of  Dunbarton,  New  Hampshire,  in  1771,  who  with 
one  child  early  died.  In  August,  1774,  he  married  Sarah 
Clement  of  Boscawen,  New  Hampshire,  —  the  wise  and 
genial  woman  who  long  survived  him,  and  was  the  mother 
of  nine  children  :  several  of  whom  have  left  the  imprint  of 
their  honorable  and  useful  lives  upon  the  pages  of  the  times 
through  which  they  passed.  Ebenezer,  a  farmer  in  Frye- 
burg,  though  dead,  lives  in  a  family  of  lawyers,  merchants, 
and  physicians,  who  descended  from  him  and  survive  him  ; 
Thomas  was  a  respected  lawyer  in  New  York ;  Joseph 
Palmer,  the  well-known  clergyman  of  South  Bridgton,  died 
in  1861,  at  the  age  of  sixty-eight ;  Sarah  was  the  wife  of 
Dr.  Oliver  Griswold  ;  and  Mary  Palmer,  the  wife  of  our 
late  esteemed  brother  of  the  bar,  William  Barrows,  and 
mother  of  our  no  less  esteemed  brother  and  judge  of  pro- 
bate for  Cumberland  County.  His  distinguished  son,  Sam- 
uel, the  subject  of  this  notice,  was  born  in  Fryeburg,  July 
16,  1784 ;  and  was  brought  up  at  Fryeburg,  receiving 
instruction  in  the  fundamental  principles  of  virtue  and 
religion  from  his  excellent  parents,  as  well  as  the  rudiments 


SAMUEL  FESSENDEN.  643 

of  the  education,  afterwards  pursued  at  Fryeburg  Academy, 
au  institution  established  in  1792,  by  the  influence  of  his 
father  and  other  gentlemen  of  that  town.  He  afterwards 
taught  school  in  his  native  town,  before  going  to  college  ; 
and  while  in  college,  he  pursued  the  same  occupation  at 
Paris  and  Boscawen,  to  help  out  the  means  of  finishing  his 
college  course.  Entering  Dartmouth  College,  he  devoted 
his  time  diligently  to  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  and 
took  his  degree,  with  a  high  reputation  as  a  scholar,  in  1806. 
Among  his  classmates  were  his  future  brother-in-law,  Wil- 
liam Jiarrows ;  Judge  Richard  Fletcher  of  Massachusetts  ; 
the  late  Governor  Harvey  of  New  Hampshire ;  and  the  late 
Governor  Parris  of  Maine. 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Fessenden  entered  the  office  of 
the  late  Judge  Dana  at  Fryeburg,  where  he  faithfully  pur- 
sued his  studies,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1809  ; 
when  he  opened  an  office  in  New  Gloucester,  where  Judge 
Weston  and  Daniel  Howard  were  then  in  practice.  This 
was  in  the  central  part  of  the  county,  and  was  then  the 
center  of  a  considerable  trade.  Mr.  Fessenden  entered 
upon  the  practice  with  earnestness,  and  having  a  strong 
mind,  well  furnished  by  literary  and  legal  study,  and  in  the 
vigor  of  life,  and  with  the  advantages  of  a  well  developed 
and  handsome  person,  he  soon  took  the  lead  in  the  practice 
of  his  town  and  neighborhood.  A  fortunate  concurrence  of 
events  or  some  trifling  incident  often  gives  a  sudden  turn  to 
a  man's  life,  and  hastens  on  his  advancement  or  decline. 
Such  an  incident  happened  to  General  Fessenden  soon  after 
commencing  practice  in  New  Gloucester.  He  was  called  to 
attend  a  trial  before  a  magistrate  in  a  neighboring  town,  in 
the  course  of  which,  one  of  the  witnesses  opposed  to  him, 
somewhat  excited  by  li([Uor,  was  contradictory  in  his  state- 
ments, and  prevaricated,  to  favor  the  party  by  whom  he  was 
summoned.     Mr.  Fosscudcu,  perceiving  this,  cross-examined 


544  SAMUEL   FESSENDEN. 

him  so  closely  as  to  make  him  appear  ridiculous,  and  to 
destroy  the  force  of  his  testimony :  this  so  provoked  the 
witness  that  he  determined  to  be  revenged  on  the  attorney ; 
and  when  Mr.  Fesscnden  vrcnt  out  of  court,  he  found  the 
bully  waiting  for  him,  and  with  his  shirt  sleeves  rolled  up, 
he  made  a  sudden  assault  upon  his  adversary.  The  General 
coolly  dealt  him  a  left-handed  blow,  not  a  slight  one,  and  at 
the  same  time  dextrously  applied  his  foot,  so  that  the  culprit 
was  laid  quivering  on  the  ground.  The  General  went  to 
him,  and  quietly  said,  "  If  you  are  satisfied,  I  will  go  home, 
as  I  am  somewhat  in  a  hurry."  The  crowd  raised  a  deafen- 
ing shout,  and  told  the  General  he  had  vanquished  the 
greatest  bully  in  the  town,  and  he  should  have  their  business. 
His  popularity  was  thus  secured,  and  the  next  term  of  the 
court  he  made  thirty  entries. 

His  most  powerful  competitor  was  the  late  Prof.  Green- 
leaf,  who  lived  in  the  adjoining  town  of  Gray,  and  who  had 
already  acquired  popularity  and  reputation  for  his  ingenuity 
and  eloquence.  The  encounters  of  these  two  young  men, 
struggling  for  mastery  in  the  profession,  and  for  an  honora- 
ble livelihood,  were  often  sharp  and  interesting,  as  they  took 
place  before  country  magistrates,  as  well  as  on  the  broader 
field  of  the  Common  Pleas  and  Supreme  Courts.  One 
anecdote  of  their  country  practice  often  amused  the  bar. 
Mr.  Greenleaf  usually  brought  his  justice  actions  before 
'Squire  Perley  of  Gray,  and  Mr.  Fcssenden  was  occasionally 
called  there  in  the  defense.  In  one  of  those  trials,  which 
had  occupied  the  forenoon,  and  was  contested  with  consid- 
erable feeling,  the  justice  had  thrown  out  intimations 
favorable  to  the  plaintiff,  which,  Fessendcn  perceiving, 
endeavored  to  avert  by  the  most  courteous  treatment :  they 
adjourned  for  dinner,  after  which  the  magistrate  was  to 
render  judgment.  On  meeting  again  in  the  afternoon,  to 
the  surprise  of  all  but  General  Fessendcn,  and  most  of  all 


SAMUEL   FESSENDEN.  545 

to  Mr.  Grcenleaf,  the  case  was  given  in  favor  of  Mr.  Fessen- 
den's  client.  On  their  way  home,  the  two  counsel  were 
commenting  on  the  decision,  in  which  Greenleaf  expressed 
astonishment  at  the  sudden  change  of  opinion  in  the 
magistrate,  and  asked  Fessenden  if  he  could  imagine  the 
cause.  The  only  reply  Fessenden  made,  was  to  show 
Greenleaf  a  package  of  blank  writs  signed  by  Perley,  which 
satisfied  him  that  the  prospect  of  getting  a  new  customer 
had  produced  a  striking  development  in  the  mind  of  the 
justice. 

The  oft-repeated  skirmishes  of  these  sharpshooters  on  the 
outposts  prepared  them  for    the  sterner  conflicts  on  the 
larger  arena  of  the  courts.      They  were  thus  trained  and 
disciplined  :  both  ardent  and  ambitious, —  Greenleaf  keen, 
ingenious,  insinuating,  and  fluent ;  Fessenden  solid,  moder- 
ate in  manner,  pertinacious,  and  persevering,  —  and  both 
having  great   weight  with  the  jury,  but  by    different  ap- 
proaches.    Their  forensic  encounters,  from  their  rivalship 
and  ability,  were  listened  to  by  the  bar  and  the  court  with 
much  interest :  in  these  were  displayed  cojuous  resources  of 
legal  knowledge  and  cultivated  powers  of  elocution.     Green- 
leaf's  manner  was  more  plausible,  Fessenden's  more   in- 
genuous:   each    having   peculiar   effect  in  his   own   way. 
Fessenden  did  not  arrive  at  his  points  and  conclusions  so 
directly  as  Greenleaf:   he  had  more  circumlocution  and 
repetition,  but  he  reached  his  point,  and  every  point,  before 
he  quitted  his  subject,  and  nothing  was  omitted  that  could 
give  light  to  the  jury.     Greenleaf 's  manner  was  extremely 
pleasant,  his   elocution  easy  and  graceful,  and  his   argu- 
ments more  concise.     In  learning  and  ability,  it  was  difficult 
to  choose  between  them.     For  more  than  twenty  years,  this 
rivalry  existed  between  them  in  a  larger  degree  than  with 
any  other  members  of  the  Cumberland  Bar,  because  their 
competition  in  tho  country  was  brought  to  Portland,  to 


546  SAMUEL   FESSENDEN:   THOMAS  A.   DEBLOIS. 

which  place  they  both  moved,  brhigiiig  their  clients,  and 
retaining  those  local  feelings  and  prejudices,  which  they  had 
not  escaped  in  their  early  practice.  Gen.  Fessenden  moved 
to  Portland  in  1822  ;  Mr.  Greenleaf  had  preceded  him  four 
years ;  their  fame  went  before  them,  their  business  followed 
them  ;  and  they  advanced  in  both  with  a  firm  and  steady 
step  to  the  highest  ranks  in  the  profession,  gaining  and 
securing  the  confidence  of  their  brethren  of  the  bar  and  on 
the  bench,  and  the  respect  of  their  fellow  citizens.  They 
were  both  men  of  high  honor  and  integrity,  professors  of 
religion.  Christian  men,  and  Christian  gentlemen.  Such 
men  were  an  honor  to  the  bar,  and  a  blessing  to  the  com- 
munity in  which  they  lived. 

When  Gen.  Fessenden  moved  to  Portland,  he  formed  a 
connection  in  business  with  Thomas  Amory  Deblois,  who 
was  born  in  Boston,  the  son  of  Stephen  Deblois,  and  grand- 
son, by  the  mother,  of  the  wealthy  and  respected  merchant, 
Thomas  C.  Amory.  lie  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in 
1813,  and  prepared  for  the  bar  in  the  office  of  Samuel  A. 
Bradley  at  Fryeburg.  He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1816, 
and  after  practicing  a  short  time  in  Windham,  he  moved  to 
Portland.  This  professional  partnership  continued  to  1854, 
a  period  of  thirty-two  years,  and  was  one  of  the  most  suc- 
cessful ever  established  in  the  State.  The  junior  partner 
had  numerous  friends  in  Boston,  his  native  place,  with 
which  our  State  was  largely  connected  in  commercial 
transactions,  which  brought  large  accessions  to  the  office  ; 
while  the  senior's  popularity  in  the  country  secured  many 
clients  from  that  quarter ;  and  the  attention,  promptness, 
and  ability  which  they  gave  to  their  business,  secured  all 
the  clients  and  correspondents  whom  they  had  once  re- 
ceived. Gen.  Fessenden  was  particularly  familiar  with  the 
law  of  real  estate,  which  formed  much  of  the  controversy, 
and  the  gravest  part  of  it,  that  occupied  our  courts.     He 


SAMUEL   FESSENDEN  :   THOMAS  A.   DEBLOIS.  547 

was  largely  employed  in  this  branch  of  business,  and  man- 
aged it  with  skill,  learning,  and  success.  Both  parties  were 
able  advocates,  and  held  conspicuous  rank,  during  this 
period,  at  the  bar. 

He  dissolved  his  connection  with  ^[r.  Deblois  in  1854,  in 
order  to  take  his  son  Daniel  into  partnership,  and  tlie  new 
firm  continued  until  his  son  was  elected  clerk  of  the  courts 
in  1801,  wlien,  advanced  in  years,  and  with  the  honors  and 
burdens  of  more  than  fifty  years'  professional  life,  and  the  re- 
spect of  the  community  upon  him,  he  retired  from  the  courts 
and  all  active  duty,  to  the  repose  of  private  and  domestic  life, 
which  his  enfeebled  health  imperatively  demanded.  He  ha}> 
pily  now  survives  at  the  age  of  seventy-eight,  the  oldest  mem- 
ber, but  one,  of  the  Cumberland  Bar,  and  for  many  years  its 
honored  president.  And  as  he  leaves  with  pain  these  scenes 
of  his  labors  and  his  triumphs,  he  speaks  emphatically  of 
the  high  regard  he  carries  with  him,  for  the  profession  in 
which  he  was  so  long  and  honorably  engaged. 

He  found  at  the  bar  of  Cumberland,  when  he  entered  it, 
Mellen,  Whitman,  Longfellow,  Hopkins,  Emery,  Henry  A. 
S.  Dearborn,  Potter,  —  all  of  Portland  ;  Orr  of  Brunswick  ; 
Cutler  of  North  Yarmouth  ;  Greenleaf  of  Gray ;  besides  other 
lesser  lights :  Freeman  was  clerk  and  Waite  sheriff,  time- 
honored  attendants.  Of  all  these  whose  names  I  have  men- 
tioned, Whitman  and  Potter  arc  the  only  survivors,  one  in 
his  eighty-sixth  and  the  other  in  his  eighty-seventh  year, 
still  enjoying  the  mellow  fruits  of  temperance,  moderation, 
and  virtuous  lives. 

General  Fesscndcn's  literary  attainments  were  very  re- 
spectable :  in  early  life  he  had  cultivated  his  classical  taste, 
and  stored  his  mind  by  a  course  of  general  reading  witli 
copious  knowledge,  which  he  subsequently  improved  as  the 
duties  of  his  profession  would  admit.  His  standing  in  col- 
lege was  among  the  best  scholars,  and  this  rank  he  sustained 


5-18  SAMUEL  FESSENDEN. 

in  after  life,  and  received  a  public  acknowledgment,  in  his 
election  in  1828  as  a  member  of  the  Maine  Historical  So- 
ciety, and  in  1846,  by  the  degree  of  LL.  D.  conferred  upon 
him  by  Bowdoin  College.  In  1828,  he  was  spoken  of  as 
president  of  Dartmouth  College,  on  the  death  of  President 
Tyler  ;  but  his  aversion  to  change  his  mode  of  life,  suspend- 
ed further  effort  in  that  direction. 

General  Fessenden  early  took  a  deep  interest  in  the  polit- 
ical affairs  of  the  country,  as  his  father  had  before  him,  who 
had  represented  his  town  in  tlie  General  Court.  They  were 
strong  and  undeviating  federalists  of  the  Washington  and 
Hamilton  school ;  and  the  whole  family  being  ardent,  earnest 
persons,  threw  themselves  zealously  into  the  conflicts  which 
occurred  between  the  opposing  parties  in  the  early  part  of  the 
century.  The  year  after  he  settled  in  New  Gloucester,  ho 
was  invited  by  the  federalists  there  to  deliver  the  4th  of  July 
oration :  Francis  Eaton,  another  lawyer  of  the  town,  was 
the  orator  of  the  democratic  party.  The  town  was  strongly 
federal,  and  that  party  erected  a  flag  staff  in  front  of  the 
house  in  which  their  oration  was  to  be  delivered,  on  which 
they  hoisted  the  national  flag.  Col.  Foxcroft,  the  demo- 
cratic leader,  sent  word  that  the  flag  must  come  down ;  which, 
when  Mr.  Fessenden  heard,  he  stationed  two  men  at  the  foot 
of  the  staff,  first  asking  them  if  they  would  sec  that  the  flag 
was  not  lowered  during  the  delivery  of  the  oration.  They 
replied  that  it  should  not  come  down,  unless  they  passed 
over  their  dead  bodies.  It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  banner 
floated  unmolested.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  Parson 
Mosely,  the  minister  of  the  parish,  and  a  high  federalist, 
read  the  hymn  oeginning  thus  : 

"  Break  out  their  teeth,  Almighty  God, 
Those  teeth  of  lions  dyed  in  blood." 

General  Fessenden  was  a  representative  from  New  Glou- 
cester to  the  General  Court  in  1814,  1815,  and  181G,  and  a 


SAMUEL    FESSENDEN.  549 

senator  from  the  county  in  1818  and  1819,  in  which  year 
the  State  swung  away  from  her  ancient  moorings  by  the  side 
of  the  old  commonwealtli  into  independent  life.  In  these 
years,  he  steadily  advocated  the  principles  of  the  federal 
party,  and  often  with  great  eloquence  and  power.  It  was 
in  1814,  in  the  discussion  of  the  proposition  to  send  dele- 
gates to  the  Hartford  Convention^  that  he  made  his  famous 
speech  against  the  national  administration,  in  which  he 
uttered  the  memorable  declaration,  that  he  was  "  ready  to 
take  the  constitution  in  one  hand  and  a  sword  in  the  other, 
and  demand  at  Washington  the  constitutional  rights  of  the 
people."  He  held  a  high  position  iji  the  Legislature,  and 
was  considered  during  this  period  of  public  life,  being  but 
thirty  years  old  when  he  entered  it,  one  of  the  most  promis- 
ing of  the  young  men  in  the  District  of  Maine. 

It  was  while  he  was  senator,  in  the  political  year  of  1818, 
that  a  sharp  controversy  occurred  on  the  floor  of  the  Senate 
iDctween  him  and  General  King,  a  senator  from  Lincoln 
county,  which  was  subsequently  continued  before  the  people 
in  the  public  papers,  and  had  an  influence  on  political  events. 
It  arose  on  the  question  of  making  a  grant  to  the  "  Maine 
Literary  and  Theological  Institution,"  now  Waterville  Col- 
lege. The  trustees  had  petitioned  the  legislature  for  aid : 
at  the  same  session,  the  subject  was  referred  to  a  committee 
of  which  Oen.  King  was  chairman,  who  made  a  report  ac- 
companied by  a  bill  granting  four  townships  of  land,  and 
13,000  a  year  for  several  years  to  the  institution.  The  bill 
was  postponed  to  the  next  session,  an  opposition  being  mani- 
fested to  it.  During  the  summer,  the  Baptist  denomination 
was  roused  by  Gen.  King  to  an  effort  in  favor  of  the  passage 
of  the  bill,  and  printed  petitions  were  prepared  by  General 
King,  and  sent  through  the  State  for  signature.  These 
were  presented  at  the  January  session,  and  were  so  objec- 
tionable by  their  offensive  language,  that  it  had  an  uufavor- 


550  SAMUEL   FESSENDEN. 

able  clTect  upon  the  application  and  the  object  of  the  grant. 
They  demanded  the  passage  of  the  bill,  and  made  dispar- 
aging reflections  upon  other  literary  institutions.  When 
the  subject  came  before  the  Senate,  General  Fessenden  and 
others  objected  to  the  passage  of  the  bill,  on  the  ground 
that  it  granted  too  much ;  and  General  Fessenden,  in  a 
speech  on  the  occasion,  in  order  to  obviate  the  effect  of  the 
offensive  language  of  the  petitions,  observed  that  they  did 
not  emanate  from  the  board  of  trustees,  nor  have  their 
assent.  This  was  immediately  denied  in  a  very  excited 
manner  by  General  King,  who  pronounced  the  statement 
false.  General  Fessenden  replied  that  the  information  had 
been  given  him  by  a  member  of  the  other  house,  who  was 
also  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  institution,  and  he  had  no 
doubt  of  its  correctness.  King  re-affu-med,  with  great  vehe- 
mence, that  the  statement  was  untrue,  and  that  the  petitions 
were  submitted  to  the  trustees,  and  approved  by  them,  with 
one  exception.  After  much  angry  discussion,  the  bill  was 
defeated ;  and  the  battle  was  renewed  on  the  broader  arena 
of  the  public  press.  The  Eastern  Argus  threw  itself  warmly 
into  the  controversy,  and  sustained  the  position  of  General 
King  with  keenness  of  sarcasm,  for  which  the  editor  of  that 
paper,  Mr.  Ware,  had  acknowledged  talent.  And  it  was 
used  as  one  of  the  arguments  in  favor  of  separation,  that  as 
Massachusetts  and  the  federal  party  withheld  a  just  favor 
and  patronage  from  the  literary  institutions  of  Maine,  the 
District  should  place  itself  in  a  situation  to  bestow  a  proper 
endowment  upon  her  own  institutions.  The  argument  had 
great  weight,  especially  in  the  Baptist  denomination,  to 
which  the  Waterville  institution  belonged. 

Gen.  Alford  Richardson,  the  representative  from  North 
Yarmouth,  was  the  member  who  furnished  the  information 
to  General  Fessenden  on  which  he  made  his  statement :  he 
and   General  King  were   both  members  of  the  board  of 


SAMUEL   FESSENDEN.  651 

Trustees  of  the  Waterville  Seminary,  and  were  thus  brought 
in  direct  issue  on  the  question  of  veracity.  General 
Richardson,  in  1822,  published  a  pamphlet  in  which  he 
thoroughly  examined  the  whole  subject,  produced  copies  of 
the  records  of  the  trustees  and  various  correspondence  and 
facts,  in  order  to  vindicate  himself  from  the  charge  of  false- 
hood. He  was  a  man  of  great  purity  of  character  and 
incapable  of  falsehood ;  and  now  that  the  principal  belliger- 
ents are  dead.  King  and  Richardson,  and  the  party  issues 
which  gave  interest  and  importance  to  the  controversy, 
entirely  effete,  we  may  justly  say,  that  General  Richardson 
stands  relieved  from  the  imputation,  hastily  and  harshly 
cast  upon  him.  As  for  General  Fesscnden,  his  vindication 
was  made  on  the  spot,  and  was  triumphant  and  successful. 
The  college,  by  this  injudicious  management,  was  the  princi- 
pal sufferer. 

General  Fessenden's  powers,  physical  and  mental,  seemed 
peculiarly  to  qualify  him  for  a  prominent  position  in 
a  deliberative  assembly :  his  commanding  figure,  his  full 
round  voice,  his  emphatic  and  graceful  elocution,  could  not 
but  make  a  deep  impression  upon  such  an  audience.  He 
distinguished  himself  so  much  in  the  Legislature,  that,  in 
1818,  while  holding  the  office  of  senator,  he  was  elected  by 
both  branches,  major  general  of  the  12th  division  of  the 
militia  of  Massachusetts.  This  office  he  held  fourteen 
years,  and  took  great  pleasure  in  it.  At  that  time,  the 
militia  was  held  in  respect,  and  scarcely  a  year  passed  but 
he  had  reviews  of  different  portions  of  his  division,  which 
embraced  the  whole  county.  He  collected  around  him  as 
his  staff,  gentlemen  of  high  standing  in  the  community, 
and  his  parades  were  brilliant  and  attractive.  His  figure 
and  appearance  were  in  a  high  degree  military  and  com- 
manding. In  a  manuscript  note  of  Mr.  Williamson,  the 
historian  of  Maine,  who  was  his  opponent  in  politics,  wo 


552  SAMUEL  FESSENDEN. 

find  these  comments :  "  He  is  a  man  of  very  good  intellec- 
tual powers,  a  thorough  lawyer,  an  able  advocate,  and  a 
safe  and  faithful  counsellor.  lie  is  in  person  above  the 
usual  size,  has  an  expressive  countenance,  and  his  manners 
arc  elevated,  and  his  bearing  military.  Though  he  is  a 
high-toned  federalist,  he  was  popular,  for  his  principles  were 
pure  —  a  man  of  accredited  piety.  He  was  emulous  to 
excel,  and  his  example  worthy  to  be  imitated," 

The  separation,  and  his  removal  to  Portland,  soon  after, 
threw  him  for  awhile  out  of  public  employment,  especially 
as  his  strong  party  biases  were  obnoxious  to  the  ruling 
power  in  the  new  State.  But  in  1825  and  1826,  he  repre- 
sented Portland  in  the  Legislature,  and  did  good  service  in 
that  capacity :  his  colleagues  the  first  year  were  Joseph 
Adams  and  Joshua  Richardson ;  the  second  year,  Stephen 
Longfellow  and  Isaac  Adams.  After  this,  he  became  more 
engrossed  in  business  which  occupied  all  his  time.  He 
early  became  a  member  of  the  Masonic  Order,  and  rose 
through  its  various  grades  to  its  chief  position  in  the  State ; 
for  a  number  of  years  he  was  Grand  Master  of  the  Grand 
Lodge  of  Maine. 

General  Fessendcn  followed  the  federal  party  in  its  vari- 
ous changes ;  to  national  republican,  under  John  Quincy 
Adams,  and  to  whig,  when  Clay  led  off  the  party.  But, 
at  length,  when  the  anti-slavery  power  was  acquiring  force, 
and  taking  a  firm  stand  for  the  emancipation  of  the  African, 
race  on  this  continent,  General  Fessendcn,  with  his  accus- 
tomed ardor,  and  from  sincere  conviction,  entered  the  ranks 
of  that  party,  and  did  yeoman's  service  in  its  cause.  For  a 
long  time,  it  was  very  unpopular  in  Portland :  the  municipal 
authorities  refused  the  public  halls  for  their  meetings,  and 
when  they  did  assemble,  they  encountered  an  exasperated 
mob.  The  General  became  quite  obnoxious  for  his  earnest 
advocacy  of  the  cause,  but  nothing  intimidated  or  discour- 


SAMUEL   FESSEXDEN.  553 

aged,  lie  struggled  on  through  evil  report  and  good  report, 
holding  up  the  l)anner  of  freedom  for  all  men,  not  whites 
alone,  but  blacks  as  well.  It  was  a  matter  of  principle 
with  him,  and  he  was  regardless  of  what  men  might  say,  if 
it  conflicted  with  his  sense  of  right.  He  received  colored 
persons  into  his  house,  he  took  them  with  him  to  church, 
he  visited  them  in  their  families,  and  encouraged  them  in 
every  way  to  give  them  self-respect  and  a  place  in  society. 
In  184^:,  he  introduced  a  colored  man,  Macon  B.  Allen,  into 
the  court-house,  while  the  District  Court  was  in  session,  and 
moved  the  court  that  he  be  admitted  to  practice  as  an 
attorney  and  counsellor  at  law,  under  the  law  then  existing 
in  Maine,  which  rendered  any  citizen  eligible  to  admission, 
who  produced  a  certificate  of  good  moral  character.  Allen 
was  rejected  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not  a  citizen.  He 
afterwards  applied  to  be  admitted  on  examination ;  he 
was  thereupon  called  before  the  examiners,  a  committee  of 
the  bar,  and  having  sustained  a  satisfactory  examination, 
he  was  recommended  and  admitted.  He,  however,  never 
entered  upon  the  practice  in  Maine,  but  went  to  Boston, 
and  made  repeated  applications  for  admission  to  the  Suffolk 
Bar,  but  was  uniformly  rejected. 

General  Fessenden  has  always  been  extremely  popular 
with  those  people,  not  only  from  his  great  benevolence  of 
character,  but  from  the  strong,  undeviating  interest  he  has 
taken  in  the  race.  One  of  them,  to  show  his  affection,  at  a 
festival  which  they  held,  gave  the  following  toast :  "  General 
Fessenden  —  though  he  has  a  white  face,  he  has  a  black 
heart."  He  has  advocated  the  anti-slavery  cause  consis- 
tently and  uniformly,  from  a  deep  conviction,  but  is  far 
from  entering  into  the  ultra  radical  views  of  those  who 
would  sacrifice  the  Union  and  all  other  of  our  political 
blessings  to  this  one  issue.  He  is  governed  by  enlightened 
views  of  freedom,  not  freedom  from  law  and  just  restraints, 

36 


654  SAMUEL  FESSENDEN. 

but  a  large  liberty  in  ^ylucll  man  may  exercise  bis  freedom 
of  tbougbt  and  speeeb,  under  tbe  salutary  restraints  of  just 
laws,  AYbicb  guarantee  tbe  rigbts  and  give  tbeir  protection 
to  otbers,  as  well  as  bimself.  His  maxim  is,  "  Et  scntirc 
qucc  relit,  et  quce  sentiat  discere,^^ — be  is  willing  to  grant  to 
otbers  wbat  he  claims  for  bimself. 

In  1841,  and  several  otber  years,  General  Fessendcn  was 
tbe  candidate  of  tbe  anti-slavery  party  for  governor  of  tbe 
State  ;  and  be  has  always  enjoyed  tbeir  confidence,  and  stood 
high  in  tbeir  esteem  as  a  firm  friend  and  wise  counsellor. 
He  has  lived  to  see  the  sect  wbicb  Avas  despised  and  rejected, 
come  to  be  high  in  public  consideration,  and  courted  for  its 
popular  influence ;  and  its  orators,  who  once  encountered 
hisses  and  reproaches,  now  greeted  with  huzzas  and  applause, 
not  tbe  faintest  of  wbicb  are  bestowed  upon  those  really 
gifted  men  who  advance  up  from  tbe  ranks  of  tbe  colored 
race  itself. 

As  might  be  inferred  from  the  uniform  benignity  and 
kindness  which  have  ever  warmed  tbe  heart  and  guided  the 
steps  of  this  excellent  man,  tbe  purest  source  of  bis  enjoy- 
ment, and  tbe  kindliest  influences  of  his  life,  were  to  be 
found  in  tbe  domestic  circle.  No  man  ever  made  a  better 
husband  or  a  better  father  than  he  ;  and  in  response  to  this 
sentiment,  bis  cherished  wife,  and  his  eight  living  children, 
seven  sons  and  one  daughter,  all  respectably  settled  in  life, 
will  rise  up  with  one  accord,  and  do  him  homage.  His  child- 
ren numbered  eleven,  nine  sons  and  two  daughters ;  two 
sons  and  one  daughter  are  dead.  Eight  of  the  sons  were 
educated  at  New  England  colleges, —  five  at  Bowdoin  and 
three  at  Dartmouth.  Four  of  bis  sons  were  educated  for 
tbe  bar,  three  for  medicine,  and  one  for  tbe  pulpit.  Three 
arc  now  in  Congress, — Samuel  C,  a  representative  from  the 
third  congressional  district  in  Maine  ;  and  William  Pitt,  tbe 
distinguished  senator  from  our  State  ;  and  liis  son  Tiiomas 


WILLIAM   P.    FESSENDEN.  655 

A.  D.,  recently  elected  from  the  Oxford  District,  for  the 
Tincxpired  term  of  Judge  Walton.  William  Pitt,  the  oldest 
son  of  the  General,  has  had  a  splendid  career :  born  in 
180(J,  he  early  manifested  remarkably  quick  perceptions 
and  strong  mental  power.  He  entered  college  before  he 
was  thirteen  years  old,  and  graduated  in  1823,  before  he 
was  seventeen.  He  studied  his  profession  with  Charles  S. 
Daveis  in  Portland,  whose  kind  and  able  counsel,  and  the 
peculiar  line  of  his  practice,  cultivated  and  developed  that 
activity  of  mind  and  those  brilliant  powers  that  carried 
him,  with  undeviating  step,  to  the  head  of  the  bar  in  Maine, 
and  to  the  leadership  in  the  Senate  of  the  United  States ; 
and  would  have  given  him  the  highest  seat  on  the  bench  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State,  if  he  would  have  been 
willing  to  sacrifice  the  noble  aspirations  of  political  life 
for  the  quiet  and  solid  rewards  of  judicial  office.  His 
first  appearance  in  public  life  was  as  a  representative  from 
Portland  in  1832,  at  the  age  of  twenty-five ;  and  being 
repeatedly  elected  to  the  House,  where  he  distinguished 
himself  by  the  keenness  of  his  intellect  and  his  graceful 
and  powerful  elocution,  he  was  selected  by  the  whigs  of 
(/uraberland  District,  in  the  exciting  campaign  of  1840,  to 
represent  that  district  in  Congress.  In  this  first  portion  of 
the  first  whig  administration,  he  at  once  took  a  prominent 
stand  on  the  floor  of  Congress,  and  acquired  a  reputation 
that  did  honor  to  himself  and  the  district  which  he  ably 
represented.  His  professional  engagements,  which  were 
numerous  and  important,  and  the  claims  of  a  young  family, 
induced  him  to  decline  a  re-election.  After  this,  he  was 
returned  four  times  to  the  Legislature  from  Portland,  and 
in  1853,  was  elected  United  States  senator  for  a  full  term  of 
six  years,  as  successor  to  James  W.  Bradbury.  During 
this  term,  he  served  on  the  finance  committee,  of  which  Mr. 
Hunter  of  Virginia  was  chairman  ;    much  of   the   labor. 


550  WILLIAM   P.   FESSENDEN. 

therefore,  of  this  important  committee  devolved  on  Mr. 
Fessenden,  and  he  signally  distinguished  himself  during  the 
■whole  of  his  term,  embracing  the  administration  of  Frank- 
lin Fierce,  and  the  first  half  of  James  Buchanan's,  by  wisdom 
in  council  and  eloquence  in  debate.  He  resisted  with 
iindeviating  firmness  and  skill,  the  deep  and  insidious 
machinations  of  the  slaveholding  party  to  fasten  their 
supremacy  on  the  country,  and  with  equal  ability,  illustrated 
the  financial  policy  of  the  government,  and  the  other  varied 
and  multifarious  interests  of  the  country.  His  merits  and 
services  were  justly  and  handsomely  acknowledged  by  a 
re-election  for  a  second  term  of  six  years,  in  1859.  His 
large  experience  in  political  life,  and  especially  on  this  broad 
field  of  national  politics,  engrafted  on  intellectual  powers 
and  resources  of  the  highest  quality,  all  united  to  a  dialectic 
skill  rarely  equalled,  have  justly  given  him  that  prominence 
in  the  national  councils,  which  the  public  award  and  his 
colleagues  concede.  h\  the  exciting  and  deeply  interesting 
discussions  and  measures  which  have  grown  out  of  the  great 
rebellion,  he  has  proved  himself  no  less  an  unflinching 
enemy  to  treason,  than  friend  to  a  sound  and  Avise  conserv- 
atism, which  seeks  the  re-establishment  of  the  Union  upon 
the  basis  of  the  old  and  venerable  and  venerated  constitu- 
tion. As  chairman  of  the  committee  of  finance  in  the 
Senate,  his  labors,  his  rare  powers  and  resources,  in  this 
period,  when  the  highest  financial  ability  of  the  country  is 
put  in  requisition  to  meet  the  unparalleled  demands  upon  the 
treasury,  have  proved  equal  to  the  emergency,  and  he  has 
shown  himself  to  be  a  chancellor  of  the  exchequer  admir- 
ably adapted  to  the  urgent  demands  of  the  great  republic. 

In  addition  to  his  own  labors  in  council,  three  of  his  four 
sons,  all  educated  at  college,  promptly  entered  the  army. 
Two  remain  in  the  service  ;  but  his  youngest,  Samuel,  nobly 
perished  on  the  field  in  the  great  battle  near  Centreville,  in 
August,  1802,  while  serving  as  an  aid  to  General  Tower. 


SAMUEL   FESSENDEN  :    WILLIAM   A.    HAYES.  557 

The  mother  of  his  chilJreii  was  Ellen,  the  youngest 
daughter  of  James  Dcering,  Esq.,  of  Portland  :  her  lamented 
death  in  1857  deprived  him  of  a  loved  companion  and  a 
dearly  cherished  friend.  In  1858,  Senator '  Fessenden  re- 
ceived from  Bowdoin  College  the  degree  of  LL.  D. 

These  are  some  of  the  claims  which  General  Fessenden 
has  to  public  gratitude,  and  had  he  given  no  more  than  his 
children  to  his  native  land,  he  would  deserve  the  thanks  of 
the  present  and  future  time.  He  has  devoted  to  their 
education  and  support,  the  resources  of  a  large  income, 
which  has  been  invested  beyond  the  reach  of  casuality  or 
depreciation,  and  become  a  large  benefaction  to  his  country. 

And  should  some  envious,  or  superficial,  or  curious  per- 
son ask,  "  Where  are  his  jewels  ?  where  is  the  pecuniary 
result  of  fifty  years'  professional  labor  ?  "  he  would  have 
more  reason  than  the  mother  of  the  Gracchi,  to  point  to  his 
sons  and  say,  "  They  are  here."  It  is  a  source  of  unalloyed 
satisfaction  to  the  venerable  Fessenden,  to  have  lived  to  this 
day,  and  to  be  a  witness  to  the  honors,  the  respect,  and 
prosperity  which  have  attended  upon  all  of  his  surviving 
children,  without  a  single  exception.  Standing  upon  the 
verge  of  life,  he  may  well  exclaim  with  the  ancient  seer, 
"  Lord,  now  lettest  thou  thy  servant  depart  in  peace,  for 
mine  eyes  have  seen  thy  salvation." 

"WILLIAM     ALLEN     HAYES.      1809  —  1850. 

Mr.  Hayes,  who  long  filled  places  of  honor  and  trust  in 
the  county  of  York,  was  the  youngest  of  the  three  sons  of 
David  Hayes  of  North  Yarmouth.  He  was  born  in  that 
town  October  20, 1783.  The  family  was  of  Scotch  descent : 
his  first  American  ancestor,  John,  was  in  Dover,  New 
Hampshire,  as  early  as  1G80,  and  married  there  in  1C8G. 
The  grandson  of  the  first  John  having  the  samo'name,  who 


558  WILLIAM   A.    HAYES. 

was  grandfather  of  the  subject  of  our  notice,  was  the  first 
of  the  name  who  settled  in  North  Yarmouth,  and  was 
among  the  early  immigrants  who  went  there  on  the  revival 
of  the  town  in  the  early  part  of  the  last  century. 

Ilis  mother  died  when  he  was  nine  years  old,  and  his 
father  when  he  was  but  twelve.  Deprived  of  these  guides  and 
guardians  of  their  early  years,  the  three  brothers  were 
thrown  upon  their  own  resources,  and  manfully  did  they 
sustain  themselves.  The  eldest  son  was  but  fifteen,  yet  they 
kept  the  household  together,  without  assistant  or  domestic. 
William  worked  with  the  others  on  the  farm  in  summer, 
and  attended  the  district  school  in  the  winter ;  and  so  well 
did  he  improve  his  opportunities,  limited  as  they  were,  that 
at  the  age  of  fifteen,  he  was  invited  to  become  the  teacher 
of  the  school.  This  encouragement  and  reward  stimulated 
him  to  seek  a  liberal  education  :  this  determination  was 
no  sooner  formed,  than,  with  the  energy  which  ever  charac- 
terised him,  he  commenced  and  prosecuted  tlie  studies  pre- 
liminary to  a  college  examination,  with  the  Rev.  Tristram 
Oilman,  the  worthy  pastor  of  the  church  in  North  Yarmouth. 
Mr.  Gilman  was  a  graduate  of  Harvard  in  the  class  of 
1757,  with  Edward  Brooks,  his  predecessor  in  the  ministry, 
Judge  Theophilus  Bradbury,  and  other  distinguished  men. 
He  was  ordained  in  1769,  and  died  in  the  ministry  in  1809. 
Under  the  guiding  and  friendly  influence  of  this  excellent 
man,  young  Hayes  was  well  prepared  for  college,  and  was 
admitted  to  Dartmouth  in  1801.  He  passed  through  his 
collegiate  course  with  honor,  and  graduated  in  1805,  with 
the  highest  distinction  of  the  class,  although  it  contained 
such  names  as  Francis  Brown,  afterwards  president  of  the  col- 
lege ;  the  Rev.  Samuel  Osgood  of  Springfield,  lately  deceased ; 
and  the  learned  and  Rev.  Henry  Coleman  of  Salem.  With 
these  gentleman  he  was  ever  on  terms  of  intimate  friend- 
ship ;  and  wc  liave  heard  that  this  friendship,  csi)ecially  in 


WILLIAM   A.    HAYES.  559 

the  case  of  Dr.  Brown,  was  transmitted  to  their  children, 
two  of  whom,  twenty-six  years  later,  entered  the  same 
college  as  classmates,  and  graduated  in  1831 :  these  were 
the  Rev.  Samuel  G.  Brown,  professor  of  oratory  at  Dart- 
mouth College,  and  John  L.  Hayes,  Esq.,  distinguished  for 
his  scientihc  attainments. 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Hayes  took  charge  for  a  year,  of 
Moor's  classical  school  at  Hanover,  an  institution  established 
by  the  elder  Pres.  Wheelock,  in  connection  with  the  college. 
After  that  time,  he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  the  law 
with  his  wonted  ability  and  earnestness.  He  spent  his  first 
year  with  Ezekiel  Whitman  at  New  Gloucester,  then  a  short 
time  with  Dudley  Hubbard  at  South  Berwick,  and  finished  his 
course  with  Artemas  Ward  of  Charlestown,  a  celebrated  law- 
yer of  the  Middlesex  Bar,  afterwards  chief  justice  of  the  Bos- 
ton Court  of  Common  Fleas,  who  was  a  sound  lawyer,  with  a 
very  large  practice.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Middlesex  Bar 
in  1809,  and  immediately  opened  an  office  at  South  Berwick, 
which  place  for  the  remainder  of  his  life  became  the  field  of 
his  usefulness,  his  labor,  and  fame. 

Mr.  Hayes,  as  might  have  been  anticipated  from  his  habits 
of  industry  and  method,  from  his  acquirements  as  a  scholar 
and  a  lawyer,  from  his  acknowledged  ability  and  persever- 
ance, immediately  took  a  prominent  position  in  his  profession 
and  society.  At  the  time  he  commenced  practice,  the  only 
lawyers  in  Berwick,  which  then  embraced  a  very  large 
territory  now  divided  into  several  towns,  were  Dudley 
Hubbard,  whose  business,  by  inattention,  was  fast  receding ; 
Benjamin  Green,  who  was  more  fond  of  politics  than  law  ; 
and  William  Lambert,  a  very  easy,  quiet  man,  who  made 
little  effort  for  business.  A  good  opening,  therefore,  existed 
in  this  thriving  community  for  an  enterprising  lawyer,  and 
Mr.  Hayes  was  the  man  for  the  place  and  the  time.  He 
soon  acquired  a  large  business,  which  he  managed  success- 


560  WILLIAM   A.   HAYES. 

fully,  accumulated  property,  won  the  confidence  of  the 
public,  and  earnestly  engaged  in  promoting  the  various 
interests  of  the  community  in  which  he  had  cast  his  lot. 
He  succeeded  not  only  to  the  business  of  Dudley  Hubbard, 
who  died  in  181G,  but  to  his  elegant  mansion  and  farm,  and 
made  it  one  of  the  most  beautiful  and  highly  cultivated 
spots  in  the  county.  He  was  a  thoroughly  experimental 
tarmer,  and  his  experiments  being  in  the  line  of  intelligence 
and  pi'ogress,  were  successful.  "Whatever  he  did,  in  the 
different  walks  of  life,  he  did  well :  the  head  always  came 
to  the  aid  of  the  hand,  and  working  together,  they  produced 
the  results  which  always  must  follow  intelligent  labor.  God 
helps  those  who  help  themselves. 

The  forty  years  of  his  busy  life  at  South  Berwick  is  well 
described  in  the  following  brief  summary,  which  we  take 
from  an  obituary  notice  of  Mr.  Hayes,  published  soon  after 
his  death.  "  During  this  period,  he  received  repeated 
testimonials  of  respect  and  confidence  from  his  brethren  of 
the  bar  and  fellow  citizens.  For  more  than  twenty-five 
years  he  was  President  of  the  South  Berwick  Bank,  about 
the  same  period  President  of  the  bar  of  York  County :  he 
was  many  years  President  of  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
Berwick  Academy,  and  for  twenty  years  Judge  of  Probate 
for  York  County.  (1828-1847.)  In  all  these  multiplied 
relations,  he  maintained  the  character  of  a  faithful,  upright, 
wise,  and  good  man."  He  did  not  engage  much  in  general 
politics :  he  was  a  representative  to  the  legislature  in  1822, 
and  we  do  not  know  that  beside"  this  he  held  any  political 
oflice.  His  b.usiness  and  private  affairs,  and  his  numerous 
engagements,  as  indicated  above,  engrossed  his  time  and 
thoughts. 

"When  his  cares  and  labors  had  greatly  increased,  he 
found  a  partner,  and  an  able  coadjutor,  in  a  young  man  of 
fine  talents  and  business  capacity,  whom  ho  took  into  his 
office,  —  Charles  N.  Cogswell. 


WILLIAM    A.  HAYES  :    CHARLES  N.  COGSWELL.  £6i 

Charles  Xortlicnd  Cogswell,  the  son  of  Xorthend  and 
Elizabeth  Cogswell,  was  born  in  Berwick,  April  24,  1797. 
He  was  educated  at  Bowdoin  College,  from  which  he  gradu- 
ated in  1814,  at  the  early  age  of  seventeen.  He  became  a 
student  in  the  office  of  Mr.  Hayes,  and  on  being  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1817,  he  entered  into  partnership  with  his 
teacher.  And  a  most  successful  partnership  it  proved  : 
both  members  of  the  firm  were  possessed  of  high  intellect- 
ual and  moral  gifts,  were  endowed  with  a  large  capacity 
for  affairs,  and  for  many  years  more  business  was  done  in 
their  office  than  in  any  other  in  the  county.  Mr.  Cogswell, 
like  Judge  Hayes,  enjoyed  the  confidence  of  the  community, 
and  was  often  selected  to  represent  the  town,  as  well  as  the 
county,  in  the  Legislature.  After  an  active  and  honorable 
course  of  life  and  practice,  he  died  very  suddenly  on  the 
eleventh  of  October,  1843, in  the  forty-seventh  year  of  his  age. 
Judge  Goodenow,  in  reply  to  the  application  to  place  upon 
the  records  of  the  court  the  resolves  of  sympathy  adopted 
by  the  bar,  observed,  "  In  a  professional  career  of  twenty- 
five  years,  few,  very  few,  have  accomplished  it  so  well.  His 
talents  for  business  were  indeed  extraordinary,  and  he  was 
most  diligent  in  the  employment  of  them.  His  memory 
was  retentive,  and  he  was  exceedingly  accurate  in  all  his 
transactions  in  his  office  and  in  the  courts.  His  whole 
demeanor  was  amiable  and  exemplary." 

Mr.  Cogswell  was  twice  married  ;  first,  to  J]lizabeth, 
daughter  of  Elisha  Hill  of  Portsmouth  ;  second,  to  Margaret 
E.  Russell,  daughter  of  Edward  Russell  of  Portland :  by 
the  latter  he  left  one  son,  now  a  member  of  Harvard 
College.  Judge  Hayes  survived  his  junior  partner  eight 
years,  still  finding  active  employment  as  president  of  the 
bank,  in  the  management  of  his  farm,  and  in  ministering  to 
his  large  family  of  twelve  children,  in  the  midst  of  whom  ho 
moved  with  affectionate  interest,  truinij)g  them  to  usefulness 


662  EDMUND   FLAGG. 

and  honor.  In  these  various  and  beneficent  duties,  and 
■while  fully  competent  to  their  discharge,  he  calmly,  and 
without  a  struggle,  sunk  to  his  linal  repose,  April  15,  1851, 
in  peace  and  charity  with  all  men,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven 
years. 

EDMUND     FLAGG.      1810  —  1816. 

FROM  TUE  PEN  OF  JOHN  H.SUEPPARD,  ESQ. 

Edmund  Flagg  of  Wiscasset  was  born  in  Chester,  New 
Hampshire,  in  1786.  He  was  the  son  of  Josiah  Flagg  of 
that  place,  who  was  in  the  Revolutionary  War,  an  adjutant, 
one  year  under  Washington.  On  the  return  of  peace,  he 
went  back  to  Chester,  lived  on  a  farm,  and  did  much  busi- 
ness as  a  justice  of  the  peace.  He  died  of  consumption 
April  25,  1799,  aged  fifty-one  ;  his  wife,  Edmund's  mother, 
died  May  1,  1799,  aged  forty-nine.  His  uncle,  Dr.  John 
Flagg  of  Lynn,  was  a  Cambridge  graduate,  a  colonel  in  the 
Revolution,  and  an  eminent  physician,  who  died  in  1793. 
His  grandfather  was  the  Rev.  Ebcnezer  Flagg,  who  was 
born  in  Woburn,  1701,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in 
1725,  was  settled  over  the  First  Congregational  Church  at 
Chester,  1736,  and,  after  a  faithful  ministry  of  sixty  years, 
died,  as  the  Columbian  Centinel  of  November  26, 1796,  has 
remarked,  on  the  fourteenth  of  November,  aged  ninety- 
three  ;  leaving  an  example,  "  worthy  to  be  imitated,  of 
public,  domestic,  and  social  virtues."  This  venerable  man 
lived  in  those  days  of  conservative  piety,  when  the  pastor 
and  his  people  were  united  by  love,  and  he  could  look  for- 
ward to  a  sepulcher  among  his  kindred  and  friends. 

Edmund  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1806,  and 
was  distinguished  as  a  scholar.  He  was  a  classmate  of  the 
Hon.  Richard  Fletcher,  LL.  D.,  of  Roston,  an  eminent 
counsellor,  and  recently  one  of  the  judges  of  the  Supreme 


EDMUND   FLAGG.  563 

Judicial  Court  of  Massachusetts,  of  Gov.  Parris  and  Samuel 
Fesseiiden  of  this  State.  He  studied  law  with  Francis  D. 
Channing,  a  lawyer  of  high  rank  in  the  Boston  Bar,  who 
died  in  1810.  After  his  admission  to  practice  in  1810,  he 
settled  in  Wiscasset,  and  within  a  year  he  had  the  good 
fortune  to  form  a  partnership  with  Silas  Lee,  District  Attor- 
ney of  the  United  States  and  Judge  of  Probate.  He  was 
immediately  engaged  in  the  lucrative  business  of  collecting 
the  debts  of  that  able  and  successful  practitioner,  to  whom 
the  arrears  of  fees  amounting  to  thousands  of  dollars  were 
due.  He  was  appointed  Register  of  Probate  for  the  county 
of  Lincoln  on  the  third  of  August,  1812,  —  an  office  not 
incompatible,  and  even  favorable  to  a  young  man's  prospects 
in  the  profession.  He  wrote  a  fair  and  ready  hand,  did  his 
own  recording,  was  a  working  man,  industrious,  persevering, 
and  economical ;  and  in  the  harvest  before  him  he  beheld 
the  harbinger  of  future  independence. 

He  now  saw  his  way  clear  to  connubial  happiness,  and  in 
1813,  married  Harriet,  daughter  of  Colonel  Payson  of 
Wiscasset,  a  pretty  woman,  and  one  of  the  belles  of  a  sea- 
port renowned  for  the  beauty  of  her  girls,  her  social  circles, 
and  well-conducted  assemblies,  in  the  days  of  her  prosperity. 
He  purchased  a  small  cottage,  and  fitted  it  up  prettily  and 
neatly :  it  stood  a  little  out  of  town  on  the  Bath  road,  in 
the  midst  of  rural  scenery,  where  the  distant  water  —  which 
is  the  eye  of  a  landscape  —  added  to  the  picturesque  effect 
of  his  white  mansion  among  the  trees.  Here,  with  a  flood 
tide  of  business,  and  growing  reputation  at  the  bar,  lio 
appeared  to  be  a  happy  man,  destined  to  years  of  felicity. 
But  Providence  otherwise  ordered.  His  parents  died  of  a 
decline,  and  the  son  inherited  this  disease.  He  had  a  fair 
and  florid  complexion,  indicating,  too  often,  a  hectic  tem- 
perament. 

On  the  fourth  of  July,   1815,  ho  was  suddenly  attacked 


564  EDMUND   FLAGG. 

Tvitli  a  foTcrisli  cough,  rapidly  fell  sick,  and  >Yas  confined  to 
his  room.  He  was  advised  to  seek  a  warmer  and  more 
salubrious  climate,  and  in  October  following,  left  his  family, 
and  sailed  in  a  packet  for  the  West  Indies.  It  was  a  voyage 
of  hope  in  pursuit  of  health.  I  saw  him  shortly  before  his 
departure  :  his  large  blue  eyes  had  the  well-known  brilliancy 
of  consumption  ;  his  cheeks  were  deeply  flushed,  and  his 
voice,  naturally  so  clear  and  cheerful,  could  only  whisper 
through  his  hoarseness  a  parting  word.  It  was  a  sad  sight 
to  see  him  there,  as  he  reclined  his  slender  form  on  the 
sofa,  and  looked  round  on  his  once  happy  home,  his  fond 
partner,  his  little  playful  daughter,  Harriet,  with  a  trem- 
bling hope  that  seemed  bordering  on  despair  ;  and  I  came 
away  from  the  house  remembering  that  the  leaves  of 
autumn  were  dropping,  and  the  fir  tree  of  the  north  would 
soon  wear  its  mourning  verdure  on  the  snowy  hills ;  but 
where  would  he  be  then  ?     Alas  ! 

"  Linquenda  tellus,  et  doraus,  et  placens 
Uxor." 

He  reached  a  foreign  port  in  safety  ;  but  in  the  Colum- 
bian Centinel  of  February  7,  1816,  was  this  melancholy 
notice  among  the  obituaries :  "  On  the  island  of  St.  Croix, 
on  the  fourteenth  of  December  last,  Edmund  Flagg,  Esq., 
late  of  Wiscasset,  counsellor  at  law,  aged  thirty.  In  the 
hope  of  a  restoration  of  health  in  a  climate  more  mild,  he 
left  his  family  and  friends  last  autumn.  He  was  a  member 
of  the  church  of  Christ,  a  good  citizen,  and  a  kind  and 
affectionate  husband." 

The  loss  of  this  amiable  and  talented  young  man  was 
much  lamented.  He  was  a  member  of  the  church  of  the 
late  Rev.  Hezekiah  Packard,  D.  I).,  of  Wiscasset.  As  a 
lawyer,  he  was  well  read,  and  familiar  with  our  reports. 
He  conducted  a  suit  skillfully,  was  gifted  with  fluency  of 
ideas  and  words,  and  grew  fast  in  reputation.     He  left  a 


^^ 


.^' 


Z^T^Z 


At  tlie  a6e  or  60 


EDMUND    FLAGG  :    ALBION    K.  PARRIS.  665 

widow  and  two  children,  —  Harriet,  who  died  in  1860,  and 
Edmund,  born  in  1815,  soon  after  his  father  left  home.  It 
would  have  been  a  source  of  the  purest  joy  could  he  have 
lived  to  see  his  name  ennobled  by  this  virtuous  and  excel- 
lent son,  who  is  now  a  writer  of  no  mean  rank  among  the 
literati  of  our  country. 

Young  Edmund  graduated  at  Bowdoin  Collage  in  1835, 
and  I  have  understood,  went  south  and  studied  law  with 
the  witty  and  renowned  George  D.  Prentiss,  in  Louisville, 
Kentucky,  where  he  was  admitted  to  practice.  With  Mr. 
Prentiss  he  was  connected  in  editing  the  Louisville  "  Liter- 
ary News  Letter  :  "  he  also  edited  other  papers,  and  wrote 
several  books, — "  The  Far  West "  in  two  volumes,  "Carrero," 
and  a  number  of  novels.  He  went  to  Berlin  as  secretary  of 
the  Hon.  Edward  A.  Hannegan,  Minister  to  Prussia,  in 
1848,  and  on  his  return  in  1850,  was  appointed  United 
States  Consul  at  Venice.  In  that  place  of  such  time-hon- 
ored memories,  his  pen  was  not  idle  ;  he  gleaned  from  the 
Italian  literature  —  that  sweet  and  exquisite  language  —  a 
rich  mass  of  historic  facts,  and  gave,  as  the  fruit  of  his 
studies  on  the  shores  of  the  Adriatic,  *'•  The  City  of  the 
Sea"  in  two  volumes;  which  is  highly  spoken  of  as  a 
reliable  history  of  "  glorious  old  Venice." 

If  the  manes  of  our  departed  friends  have  ever  been 
permitted  to  look  down  from  tlie  unknown  world  upon 
those  dear  kindred  they  have  left  below,  what  must  be  tlie 
joy  and  gladness  of  the  father  to  see  such  a  son,  cheering 
the  declining  days  of  his  widowed  mother,  and  adorning 
society  by  the  light  of  his  genius,  and  the  labors  of  his  pen  ? 

ALBION     KEITH     PARRIS.      1809  —  1857. 

The  life  of  Judge  Purris  was  one  of  uniform  success :  his 
aspirations   in   every    department    seemed   to    have    been 


5G6  ALBION    K.    PARRIS. 

promptly  answered.  He  was  born  at  Hebron,  Maine,  the 
only  child  of  Samuel  Parris  and  Sarah  Pratt  of  Middlcbor- 
ough,  Massachusetts.  He  descended  from  Thomas  Parris  of 
London,  who  had  four  sons  living  in  that  city  in  IGGO,  viz., 
John,  Thomas,  Samuel,  and  Martin.  John  was  a  minister 
of  the  Reformed  church  at  Ugborough,  near  Plymouth, 
England.  Samuel  was  the  unfortunate  minister  of  Salem 
village  in  New  England,  in  whose  family  the  witchcraft 
tragedy  commenced.  Thomas,  son  of  John,  the  minister, 
sailed  from  Topsham  in  Devonshire,  for  New  England,  June 
28,  1683.  He  went  first  to  Long  Island,  New  York,  where 
he  married,  and  afterward  moved  to  Boston,  and  there 
losing  his  wife,  he  moved  to  Pembroke,  Massachusetts,  and 
married  a  Miss  Rogers,  by  whom  he  had  four  sons  and 
three  daughters.  He  died  in  1752.  His  son  Thomas,  born 
May  8,  1701,  married  Hannah  Gannett  of  Scituate,  by 
whom  he  had  four  sons,  and  died  September  7,  1786.  Ben- 
jamin, one  of  these  sons,  born  August  27,  1731,  married 
Milliccnt  Keith  of  Easton,  Massachusetts,  July  4,  1753,  and 
had  five  sons  and  three  daughters.  He  lived  in  Pembroke, 
Massachusetts,  and  was  much  employed  as  an  instructor  of 
youth :  he  died  November  18,  1815.  Samuel,  the  eldest 
son  of  Benjamin,  was  born  August  31,  1755:  he  entered 
the  army  in  1775,  and  performed  much  service  as  an  officer 
both  on  land  and  at  sea.  On  the  close  of  the  war,  he  mar- 
ried Sarah  Pratt,  and  had  one  child  only,  Albion  Keith, 
the  subject  of  the  present  notice,  who  was  born  in  Hebron, 
Maine,  January  19,  1788,  and  was,  as  it  thus  appears,  in 
the  seventh  degree  of  descent  from  Thomas  of  London, 
through  John,  Thomas,  Thomas,  Benjamin,  and  Samuel, 
his  father.  Samuel  had  a  brother  Martin,  a  graduate  of 
Brown  University  in  1790,  who  settled  in  the  ministry  at 
Marshficld,  and  died  in  1739.  After  the  Revolutionary 
War,  Samuel,  the  father  of  Albion,  moved  to  Hebron,  then 


ALBION   K.    PARRIS.  567 

an  incorporated  plantation,  and  was  one  of  the  first  settlers 
of  the  town.  He  held  the  office  of  Judge  of  the  Court  of 
Common  Pleas  for  Oxford  County,  several  years ;  was 
repeatedly  chosen  a  representative  from  Hebron ;  and  in 
1812,  he  was  chosen  by  the  Federal  party  one  of  the  Electors 
of  President,  and  united  with  the  other  Electors  of  that 
State  in  casting  tlie  vote  of  Massachusetts  for  DeWitt  Clin- 
ton. He  died  in  Washington  at  the  residence  of  his  son, 
September  10,  1847,  aged  ninety-two. 

Governor  Parris  worked  on  his  father's  farm  until  he  was 
fourteen  years  old,  when  he  began  to  prepare  for  college, 
and  entered  in  advanced  standing  at  Dartmouth  in  1803. 
He  graduated  in  180G,  in  the  class  with  AVilliam  Barrows 
and  General  Fessenden  of  our  State,  John  Harvey  of  New 
Hampshire,  and  Judge  Fletcher  of  Massachusetts.  He 
soon  after  commenced  the  study  of  law  with  Chief  Justice 
Wliitman,  who  was  then  in  practice  at  New  Gloucester,  and 
who  next  winter  removed  to  Portland.  He  pursued  his 
studies  with  great  diligence,  and  was  admitted  to  the  Cum- 
berland Bar  in  September,  1809.  He  immediately  estab- 
lished himself  in  the  practice  of  law  at  Paris  in  the  county 
of  Oxford  :  from  that  period,  his  course  was  one  of  unin- 
terrupted success. 

In  1811,  he  was  appointed  county  attorney  for  Oxford. 
In  1813,  he  was  elected  to  the  General  Court  in  Massachu- 
setts from  Paris.  In  1814,  he  was  chosen  a  senator  for  the 
counties  of  Oxford  and  Somerset ;  and  in  November,  1814, 
he  was  elected  to  the  Fourteenth  Congress  of  the  United 
States,  for  the  years  1815  and  '16,  and  again  to  the  Fifteenth 
Congress ;  and  while  holding  this  oflice  of  representative  to 
Congress,  he  was  appointed  Judge  of  the  District  Court  of 
the  United  States  for  Maine,  in  1818,  at  the  age  of  thirty, 
as  successor  to  the  venerable  Judge  Sewall,  who  had  held 
the  office  from  the  organization  of  the  government. 


568  ALBION  K.    PARRIS. 

On  receiving  this  appointment,  lie  moved  to  Portland, 
from  which  place,  the  next  year,  1819,  he  was  chosen  a 
member  of  the  convention  to  form  a  constitution  for  the 
new  State,  then  seeking  admission  into  the  Union.  This 
body  was  composed  of  the  most  able  and  prominent  men  in 
the  State,  over  which  William  King  was  called  to  preside. 
Judge  Parris  took  an  active  part  in  its  proceedings  and 
debates,  and  was  a  member  of  the  committee  which  drafted 
the  constitution,  Mr  Holmes  being  chairman.  Among  the 
members  of  this  important  committee,  were  Messrs.  Dane 
of  Wells,  Whitman  of  Portland,  General  Wingate  and 
Chandler,  Judge  Bridge  and  Judge  Dana.  Mr.  Parris  was 
also  appointed  treasurer  by  the  convention. 

On  the  adoption  of  the  constitution,  and  the  admission  of 
the  State  into  the  Union,  of  which  it  became  the  twenty- 
second  member,  Mr.  Parris,  then  holding  the  office  of 
District  judge,  was  appointed  Judge  of  Probate  for  Cum- 
berland County,  under  the  new  dynasty,  succeeding  the 
venerable  Samuel  Freeman,  who  had  held  the  office  sixteen 
years  as  successor  to  Judge  Gorham.  While  in  the  enjoy- 
ment of  these  honorable  and  responsil)le  trusts,  public 
opinion  designated  him  for  the  highest  office  in  the  State  as 
successor  to  Governor  King,  who  having  been  appointed  in 
1821,  one  of  the  commissioners  on  Spanish  Claims,  resigned 
the  office.  This  nomination  was  not  unanimously  accepted 
by  the  democratic  party,  some  of  whom  preferred  General 
Joshua  Wingate,  and  a  triangular  contest  resulted  of  con- 
siderable harshness  and  asperity.  Governor  Parris  was 
elected,  and  entered  upon  the  discharge  of  the  duties,  before 
he  had  quite  attained  the  age  of  thirty-three  years,  and  was 
continued  in  the  office  by  successive  elections,  five  years. 
In  his  annual  message  in  1826,  he  peremptorily  declined 
another  nomination.  Governor  Parris  administered  the 
government  with  ability  and  faithfulness :  it  was  a  period 


ALBION   K.    PARRIS.  569 

of  repose  —  there  were  no  excitinj^  questions  to  irritate  the 
public  mind.  The  most  important  subjects  calling  for 
attention  were  those  relating  to  the  common  property 
owned  with  Massachusetts,  and  the  disputed  northeastern 
boundary.  The  latter  subject  was,  toward  the  close  of  his 
administration,  becoming  of  serious  import,  and  had  begun 
to  create  alarm  as  to  the  final  result.  In  his  annual  mes- 
sage in  1826,  Gov.  Parris  called  the  attention  of  the  Legis- 
lature to  the  subject,  as  one  unexpected,  and  for  the 
discussion  of  which,  the  government  needed  the  evidence 
contained  in  documents,  reports  of  commissioners,  and 
maps,  and  recommended  that  copies  of  such  needed  papers 
should  be  procured.  Immediate  action  was  taken  by  the 
Legislature,  and  Reuel  Williams,  chairman  of  the  committee 
in  the  Senate,  made  a  clear  and  able  report  on  the  subject, 
concluding  with  resolves  authorizing  and  requesting  the 
Governor  to  procure  "  all  such  maps,  documents,  publica- 
tions, papers,  and  surveys,  relating  to  the  northeastern 
])oundary  of  the  United  States,  as  he  may  deem  necessary 
and  useful  for  the  State  to  be  possessed  of." 

The  interests  of  education,  religious  culture,  and  tem- 
perance were  often  and  earnestly  urged  by  Gov.  Parris 
upon  the  attention  of  the  Legislature,  and  received  respect- 
ful consideration.  In  1825,  Lafayette  visited  the  State, 
where  his  reception  was  most  cordial,  and  where  he  found 
some  of  his  old  companions  in  arms  to  welcome  their  illus- 
trious ally  and  friend.  He  was  warmly  greeted  and 
entertained  by  the  Governor.  His  visit  to  the  State 
extended  as  far  as  Augusta.  He  was  the  guest  of  the 
State  by  invitation  of  the  executive,  under  a  resolve  of  the 
Legislature  expressed  in  cordial  and  complimentary  terms. 
The  report  on  the  subject  was  signed  by  the  most  respectable 
gentlemen  of  the  Legislature,  —  James  Campbell,  James  W. 
Ripley,  Robert  P.  Dunlap,  General  Fessenden,   Timothy 


570  ALBION    K.    PARRIS. 

Boutcllc,  Daniel  Goodenow,  Parker  McCobb,  and  others. 
His  journey  was  a  triumphal  progress,  and  he  was  received 
everywhere  witli  the  warmest  expressions  of  gratitude  and 
respect. 

Governor  Parris  was  not  permitted  to  enjoy  repose 
from  oflicial  life.  The  last  year  of  his  administration  had 
not  expired  when  he  was  elected  to  tlic  United  States  Sen- 
ate in  place  of  John  Holmes,  whose  term  of  service  ended 
on  the  3d  of  March,  1827. 

But  he  had  scarcely  become  familiar  with  his  new  posi- 
tion, when  in  June,  1828,  he  was  a])pointcd  Associate  Justice 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  our  State,  in  the  room  of  Judge 
Preble,  who  resigned  the  office  on  his  appointment  as  Min- 
ister to  the  Hague.  Judge  Parris  having  been  for  several 
years  withdrawn  from  practice,  and  never  having  had  much 
experience  in  the  routine  of  his  profession,  on  account  of 
his  early  and  steady  employment  in  the  public  service, 
found  himself  somewhat  rusty  in  regard  to  the  decided 
cases  and  the  progress  of  legal  science.  But  with  his  ac- 
customed industry  and  facility,  he  applied  himself  to  the 
study  of  the  reports  and  the  learned  elementary  treatises, 
until  he  thoroughly  qualified  himself  for  the  arduous  and 
important  duties  of  the  bench ;  and  it  is  but  justice  to  say, 
that  he  received  unqualified  testimony  from  the  bar  and 
the  community,  of  the  al)ility,  promptness,  and  impartiality 
which  graced  his  judicial  life. 

He  was  not,  liowever,  destined  to  grow  old  upon  tlie 
bench,  for  he  had  hardly  ripened  his  judicial  powers  and 
opened  the  way  to  judicial  fame,  before  he  was  transferred, 
I  cannot  say  to  a  higher  sphere  —  but  to  one  of  more  emol- 
ument and  ease.  In  1836,  by  the  favor  of  Mr.  Van  Buren, 
he  found  an  honorable  position  and  a  salary  of  three  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year,  as  Second  Com])trolIcr  of  the  Treasury 
of  the  United  States.     This  office  ho  held  thirteen  years 


ALBION  K.    PARRIS.  571 

until  1849,  and  discharged  its  duties  with  the  utmost  fidelity 
and  promptness,  through  tlie  administrations  of  Mr.  Van 
Burcn,  Gen.  Harrison,  John  Tyler,  and  President  Polk. 
On  retiring  from  this  station,  he  returned  to  Portland,  of 
which  city  he  was  chosen  mayor  in  1852,  declining  a  second 
nomination.  This  was  the  last  public  office  he  held,  and  for 
the  remainder  of  his  life  he  reposed  quietly  upon  his  many 
and  well-won  laurels. 

This  career  of  public  duty,  continued  through  a  period  of 
thirty-six  years,  never  for  an  hour  interrupted,  is  extraordi- 
nary, not  to  say  unparalleled  in  recent  times  —  offices,  too, 
of  the  highest  importance  and  responsibility.  A  member  of 
Congress  at  the  age  of  twenty-eight.  Judge  of  the  United 
States  Court  at  thirty,  Governor  at  thirty-three,  prove  him 
to  have  early  acquired  an  unusual  popularity.  Without 
brilliant  talents,  or  a  large  accumulation  of  knowledge,  he 
proved  himself  equal  to  every  office  he  was  called  to  fill, 
and  to  every  emergency  which  required  his  action.  The 
secret  of  his  success  lay  in  his  industry  and  close  application 
to  the  duties  of  every  office  confided  to  him,  his  promptness 
and  fidelity,  his  sagacity,  his  general  suavity  of  manners, 
and  an  easy  adaptation  of  himself  Jto  every  situation :  in 
sliort,  it  may  with  truth  be  said  of  him,  that  he  faithfully 
and  acceptably  filled  all  the  offices,  however  varied  their 
duties,  to  which  he  was  successively  called. 

For  several  years  previous  to  his  death,  he  had  been 
troubled  with  difficulty  of  breathing  and  sharp  pains  in  the 
region  of  his  heart,  when  making  any  considerable  exertion  : 
this  increased  the  last  year,  and  terminated  in  his  sudden 
death  on  the  morning  of  February  11,  1857.  The  City 
Council  of  Portland  and  the  Bar  of  Cumberland  promptly 
expressed  their  sense  of  their  own  and  the  public  loss,  and 
their  sympathy  on  the  occasion  ;  and  a  general  and  honora- 
l)le  ientiment  went  up  from  the  press  of  IMaine,  and  from 


572  ALBION   K.  PARRIS  :    HIRAM  BELCHER. 

our  citizens  througliout  the  State,  in  honor  of  this  faithful 
public  man. 

In  1810,  Governor  Parris  married  Sarah,  eldest  daughter 
of  the  Rev.  Levi  Whitman,  of  Wellflcet,  Massachusetts, 
who,  with  three  daughters  and  two  sons,  survives  him. 
Governor  Parris  always  led  a  regular  and  exemplary  life  : 
punctual  at  church  as  he  was  at  his  office,  he  gave  the  en- 
tire influence  of  his  example  to  the  observance  of  the  Sab- 
bath and  all  moral  duties.  On  his  return  to  Portland  from 
Washington,  he  became  a  consistent  member  of  the  High 
Street  Congregational  Church,  took  his  place  as  a  teacher  in 
its  Sunday  school,  and  was  observant  of  all  the  practical 
duties  of  religion.  He  died  at  the  age  of  sixty-nine,  in  the 
full  assurance  of  a  higher  and  better  life. 

HIRAM    BELCHER.      1812  —  1857. 

Among  the  most  worthy  and  honored  members  of  the 
Kennebec,  and  of  the  Franklin  Bar,  after  the  division  of  the 
county  in  1828,  was  Hiram  Belcher  of  Farmington.  Ho 
was  the  son  of  Supply  Belcher,  who  was  of  Stough ton,  Mas- 
sachusetts :  he  served  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution,  and 
claimed  to  be  of  the  Governor  Belcher  branch  of  that  fam- 
ily. Soon  after  the  close  of  the  war,  he  came  to  Augusta 
in  this  State,  where  his  son  Hiram  was  born  in  the  winter  of 
1790.  In  the  next  winter,  while  the  son  was  yet  in  his 
mother's  arms,  the  enterprising  father  sought  a  still  more 
remote  region,  and  pitched  his  tent  in  the  wilderness  of 
Sandy  River,  now  Farmington,  forty  miles  from  Augusta. 
This  settlement  was  commenced  by  Stephen  Titcomb  of 
Topsham,  who  built  the  first  log  house  there  in  1780,  and 
lived  to  see  a  rich  and  productive  country  rise  up  under  the 
hand  of  intelligent  lal)or  and  persevering  industry,  until  it 
has  become  a  garden  in  Maine. 


HIRAM   BELCHER.  573 

Here  Hir^m  Belcher's  early  and  latter  days  were  spent ; 
the  former  in  honest  labor  on  the  farm,  which  expanded  his 
body  and  gave  him  a  vigorous  and  muscular  frame ;  the 
latter  in  a  higher  range  of  exertion.  His  father  rose  to 
posts  of  honor  in  his  town,  was  a  magistrate,  and  repre- 
sented the  town  in  1798,  1801,  and  1809,  was  the  first  town 
clerk  and  selectman,  and  died  respected,  at  the  age  of 
eighty-four,  in  1836.  Wlien  young  Belcher  was  old  enough 
to  appreciate  the  value  of  an  education,  he  was  sent  to  the 
excellent  academy  at  HallowcU,  where  he  attained  the  first 
rank  in  his  class,  among  competitors  over  whom  victory  was 
a  distinction.  Among  them  were  William  Clark,  "William 
C.  Wilde,  and  Dudley  Norris.  After  receiving  a  good 
academical  education,  he  entered  the  office  of  Wilde  and 
Bond  of  Hallowell,  and  devoted  himself  earnestly  and 
steadily  to  the  pursuit  of  a  profession  which  was  to  become 
the  source  of  his  future  emolument  and  honor.  He  was 
admitted  to  the  bar  in  1812,  well  prepared  to  enter  on  the 
work  of  his  life. 

Ho  immediately  established  himself  in  Farmington,  where 
he  continued  to  reside  until  his  death,  which  took  place 
May  6,  1857,  at  the  age  of  sixty-seven.  That  country  was 
very  prosperous  :  its  fertile  valleys  and  intervales  had 
invited  an  energetic  class  of  immigrants,  who,  by  their 
operations  in  the  forests  and  the  fields,  and  in  trade,  had 
rapidly  transformed  the  whole  region  from  a  state  of  nature 
to  a  fruitful,  tliriving,  and  well-settled  country.  Its  busi- 
ness gave  encouragement  to  numerous  traders,  and  the 
lawyers  partoolc  of  the  general  prosperity.  At  that  time, 
there  were  but  two  lawyers  besides  himself  in  all  tliat  part  of 
Kennebec  County  which  now  constitutes  the  county  of 
Franklin :  these  were  Nathan  Cutler  and  Elnathan  Pope. 
There  had  been  in  the  town  for  about  six  years,  a  lawyer 
named  Zachariah  Soule,  a  man  of  line  promise  and  brilliant 


574  IlIRAM   BELCUER  :    Z.    SOULE  :    E.    rOPE. 

•vvit :  he  was  from  Halifax  in  Plymouth  County,  a  graduate 
of  ]>rown  University  in  the  class  of  1799 :  he  tried  his  for- 
tune first  at  Paris,  then  at  Farmington,  where  he  settled  in 
1806  ;  but  his  habits  became  very  dissolute,  and  he  returned 
to  Massachusetts,  in  1812,  a  wreck,  and  subseiiuently  died 
in  a  poor-house.  Of  Mr.  Cutler  we  have  before  spoken  : 
Mr.  Pope  was  from  Freetown,  Massachusetts.  He  opened 
an  office  in  Farmington  in  1809,  where  he  continued  in  the 
practice  until  1828,  when  he  moved  to  New  Sharon.  About 
1810,  he  became  a  preacher  and  farmer,  and  died  in  1861, 
aged  eighty  years.  He  was  honorable  and  respected  in  his 
profession,  of  sound  judgment  and  good  common  sense. 

Into  this  field  Mr.  Belcher  entered  with  the  ardor  of  youth, 
and  with  the  confidence  of  well-cultivated  powers.     He  was 
a  zealous  federalist,  while  Mr.  Cutler  espoused  the  demo- 
cratic side,  and  this  had  some  influence  on  the  division  of 
business,  as  parties  at  that  time  ran  high :  both  the  town 
and  county   were   democratic   by   a   small  majority.     Mr. 
Belcher   soon  took   a  prominent  position  at  the  bar  ;    his 
ability  and  integrity  carried  him  steadily  forward;  there 
was  no  cessation  to  his  onward  progress  ;   he  was  a  good 
lawyer,  a  successful  advocate,  and  above  and  beyond  all,  an 
honest  man.      He  was  faithful  and  true  to  his  clients,  and 
well-grounded  in  the  solid  learning  of  his  profession :  he 
never  stooped  to  any  doubtful,  or  dishonest,  or  disreputable 
course,  to  win  a  cause  or  to  gain  or  gratify  a  client.     A 
friend  who  knew  him  well  through  his  whole  life,  thus  speaks 
of  him  :  "  He  was  no  time-server  nor  demagogue,  watching 
the  weather-cock ;    but  in  his  public  and  private  life,  he 
formed  his  opinions  with  an  honest  mind,  and  carried  out 
his  convictions  with  a  courageous  independence  and  un- 
wavering fidelity.     He  made  no  pretensions  ;  but  secured 
without  artifice  or  profession,  the  respect  and  friendship  of 
all,  by  his  solid  qualities  and  unquestioned  integrity."     He 


HIRAM   BELCHER.  675 

had  a  quick  apprehension  of  the  vain,  assuming,  and  absurd 
in  men,  which  he  had  a  happy  faculty  of  showing  up  by  his 
keen  and  quiet  wit,  of  which  many  instances  occur  to  the 
memory  of  his  friends.  The  venerable  William  Allen  of 
Norridgewock,  from  whom  we  derive  these  facts,  adds, 
"  Happy  in  his  domestic  life,  he  lived  among  his  neighbors 
and  friends  beloved  for  his  Ciu-istian  character  and  his  social 
virtues,  doing  his  duty  as  a  citizen  in  all  the  relations  of 
life." 

To  this,  we  may  add  the  testimony  of  Frederic  Allen  of 
Gardiner,  whose  practice  with  him  at  the  bar  enabled  him 
to  speak  of  his  legal  standing.  In  his  brief  notice  in  the  sixth 
volume  of  the  Maine  Historical  Collections,  he  says,  "  He 
possessed  talents  far  above  mediocrity.  He  was  frequently 
employed  as  an  advocate,  and  was  not  an  unsuccessful  one. 
He  had  an  excellent  and  well  cultivated  mind,  and  much 
benevolence  of  disposition.  He  was  remarkable  for  his  amus- 
ing and  quiet  sallies  of  wit  and  dry  humor,  occasionally  in- 
terspersed in  his  forensic  discussions,  as  well  as  his  private 
intercourse.  He  was  a  man  of  large  stature,  in  height  over 
six  feet,  rather  thin  and  spare  of  flesh,  and  not  very  com- 
pactly formed." 

Mr.  Belcher  held  the  office  of  town  clerk  of  Farmington 
from  1814  to  1819,  and  represented  the  town  in  the  Legisla- 
tures of  1822, 1829, 1832 :  in  1838  and  1839,  he  was  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Senate  of  Maine.  In  184G,  he  was  chosen  a  rep- 
resentative in  the  Thirtieth  Congress,  and  served  the  two 
years,  1817  to  1849,  during  the  last  half  of  President  Polk's 
administration.  Mr.  Belcher  supported  the  measures  of  the 
whigs,  and  of  the  seven  representatives  and  two  senators 
from  Maine,  he  was  the  solitary  wliig  member  of  the  whole 
delegation  in  both  houses  of  Congress.  During  this  term,  the 
]\[cxican  war  was  closed  by  a  treaty  which  largely  increased 
the  territory  of  the  United  States,  and  opened  new  issues  for 


676  HIRAM   BELCHER. 

party  strife.  It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  Mr.  Belcher 
was  opposed  to  the  Mexican  War  and  an  increase  of  ter- 
ritory, and  all  schemes  whose  tendency  was  to  enlarge  the 
area  of  slavery,  of  which  he  was  an  earnest  opponent.  Mr. 
Belcher  would  probably  have  been  re-elected  had  not  his 
health  failed,  which  induced  him  to  withdraw  from  active 
duty.  lie  had  received  his  son  Hannibal,  who  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  in  1839,  into  partnership  with  him,  who  now  took 
the  principal  charge  of  the  business  of  the  lirm. 

Mr.  Belcher,  after  a  life  of  great  purity,  usefulness,  and 
honor,  died  on  the  sixth  of  May,  1857,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
seven,  lie  married  a  niece  of  Judge  Daniel  Cony  of  Au- 
gusta, by  whom  he  had  five  children  :  Hannibal,  an  only  son, 
and  four  daughters  ;  viz.,  Charlotte,  who  died  young  ;  Abi- 
gail, married  to  John  L.  Cutler,  son  of  Nathan  Cutler  of 
Farmington,  who  died  in  1845  ;  Susan,  wife  of  Joseph  Fair- 
banks ;  and  Mehitabel,  wife  of  Mr.  Abbott,  the  accomplished 
principal  of  the  excellent  school  at  Farmington.  The  mem- 
ory of  Mr.  Belcher  is  held  in  fresh  regard  and  consideration 
by  his  numerous  friends  in  the  town  and  county  in  which 
his  useful  life  was  passed. 


CHAPTER    XX. 


CHARLES   S.   DAVEIS  —  CHARLES   SHAW  —  LUTHER   FITCH  —  WIL- 
LIAM  P.  PREBLE — SAMUEL   E.  SMITH  —  ETHER   SHEP- 
LEY  —  PELEG    SPRAGUE — ASHUR     WARE. 

CHARLES     STEWART     DAVEIS.      1810  — 

Among  the  best  read  and  most  highly  cultivated  lawyers 
in  Maine,  we  may  justly  rank  the  gentleman  whose  name 
we  have  placed  at  the  head  of  this  article.  For  many  years, 
he  was  a  leader  in  the  admiralty  and  equity  practice  of  the 
United  States  courts,  and  with  the  earliest  who  labored  to 
introduce  the  equity  system,  as  it  now  exists,  into  the  courts 
of  our  State. 

Mr.  Daveis  was  born  in  Portland,  May  10,  1788.  His 
father,  Captain  Ebenczer  Davis,  was  an  officer  in  the  army 
of  the  Revolution,  and  became  a  member  of  the  Society  of 
Cincinnati :  ho  was  a  native  of  Haverhill,  Massachusetts, 
and  came  to  Portland  on  the  close  of  the  war,  where  he  died 
in  1790,  leaving  but  this  one  son.  He  was  a  large  and  well- 
proportioned  man,  with  a  military  air,  and  the  easy  man- 
ners which  the  officers  of  the  army  either  possessed  or  ac- 
(juired  in  the  profession.  His  mother  was  Mchitabcl  Griffin, 
a  daughter  of  Deacon  Ebenczer  Criilin  of  Bradford,  Massa- 


678  CHARLES    s.  daveis. 

cliusetts,  whose  grandmother  was  the  second  child  of  Richard 
Hazcn,  a  descendant  of  Edward  Hazen,  the  first  American 
ancestor  of  the  name,  who  came  from  England  and  settled 
at  Rowley,  Massachusetts,  as  early  as  1650.  Hazeu's  son 
Richard  married  Mary  Peabody  of  Boxford,  whose  daugh- 
ter Priscilla  was  the  great-grandmother  of  the  sul)Ject 
of  our  notice,  by  her  marriage  with  Benjamin  Kimball  of 
Bradford  ;  and  thus  he  bears  the  blood  of  Hazen,  Peabody, 
Kimball,  Griffin,  and  Daveis,  flowing  through  honored  chan- 
nels from  the  foundations  of  the  country, —  ah  iirbc  condila. 

Mr.  Daveis  received  the  rudiments  of  his  education  at  the 
common  schools  in  Portland  ;  but  in  1802  he  was  sent  to  the 
Phillips  Academy  at  Andover,  of  which  Mark  Newman  was 
then,  and  many  years  after,  the  accomplished  preceptor,  and 
John  Abbot  the  assistant :  Mr.  Abbot  being  afterwards,  dur- 
ing the  residence  of  Mr.  Daveis,  translated  to  a  professor- 
ship at  Bowdoin,was  succeeded  by  Samuel  Greele,  Harvard 
College,  1802,  who  has  lately  died.  Mr.  Daveis  was  des- 
tined for  the  twin  academy  at  Exeter  ;  but  there  being  no 
vacancy  in  that  celebrated  institution,  he  proceeded  to  An- 
dover. 

In  1803,  he  became  a  member  of  Bowdoin  College,  in  the 
second  class  which  had  entered  that  institution.  His  class 
consisted  of  but  two  others  besides  himself,  who  were  Rob- 
ert Means  from  Westbrook,  and  Setli  Storer,  then  of  Saco 
and  now  of  Scarborough.  The  first,  or  prior  class,  which 
entered  in  1802,  graduated  seven,  only  one  of  whom,  Mr. 
O'Brien  of  Brunswick,  now  survives.  The  college  was  then 
under  the  instruction  of  the  learned  and  excellent  Dr.  Mc- 
Kecn,  who  had  been  called  from  his  pastorate  in  Beverly  to 
take  charge  of  the  infant  institution ;  and  John  Abbot  as 
Professor  of  Languages  and  Librarian.  But  while  Mr.  Da- 
veis was  passing  through  his  curriculum,  and  as  new  classes 
entered,  numbering  six  in  1804,  live  in  1805,  and  twelve  in 


CHARLES  S.   DAVEIS.  579 

1806,  the  corps  of  instruction  was  enlarged  by  the  accession 
of  very  able  men,  who  afterwards  occupied  prominent  places 
in  the  community :  in  180-i  came  Samuel  Willard,  subse- 
quently the  venerated  pastor  of  the  church  in  Deerfield ; 
Parker  Cleaveland,  clarum  et  venerabile  nomen,  as  Professor 
of  Mathematics,  subsciiucntly  of  Chemistry ;  and  Nathan 
Parker,  the  respected  and  beloved  pastor  of  the  first  church 
in  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire.  These  instructors,  as 
well  as  Professor  Abbot,  were  all  graduates  of  Harvard. 
President  McKeen  received  his  education  at  Dartmouth,  the 
college  of  his  native  State.  But  this  excellent  guide,  teacher, 
and  friend  did  not  live  to  preside  at  the  graduation  of  this 
second  class :  his  sudden  death,  a  short  time  ])revious  to  the 
commencement  of  1807,  cast  a  gloom  over  the  halls  of 
the  college  and  the  community,  where  his  name  was  greatly 
venerated  and  beloved. 

Mr.  Daveis  faithfully  improved  his  time  and  opportunities 
at  Brunswick,  and  always,  in  after  life,  fondly  cherished  the 
kind  and  constant  attentions  of  the  President,  Professor 
Cleaveland,  and  Tutor  Willard,  in  directing  his  studies  and 
moulding  his  character.  In  the  exercises  of  Commence- 
ment, each  of  the  three  scholars  had  two  parts, — Storer  the 
Latin  salutatory,  and  a  forensic  with  Means  ;  Means  also  had 
an  English  oration  ;  Daveis  delivered  upoeDi  on  "  Tradition," 
and  the  valedictory  oration. 

He  left  college  well  furnished  with  the  apparatus  for  en- 
larged and  useful  application,  and  immediately  entered  the 
office  of  Nicholas  Emery,  who  had  recently  removed  to  Port- 
land from  Parsonsficld,  with  a  high  reputation  as  a  lawyer 
and  advocate.  Here  he  pursued  his  legal,  with  the  same 
assiduity  that  he  had  his  literary  studies.  Yet  he  didn  ot 
deny  himself  to  the  muses,  nor  cease  to  yield  to  the  blan- 
dishments which  literature  lends  to  the  graver  lessons  of  the 
law.    In  his  recreations  from  Coke  and  Blackstone,  he  wrote 


680  CHARLES  S.   DAVEIS. 

poetry  and  poetical  prose  ;  and  what  talented  young  man 
ever  passed  through  the  formative  processes  of  life  without 
wooing  the  muses,  and  getting  up  poetry  that  has  made  him 
blush  in  after  years  to  find  in  print  or  the  albums  of  friends  ? 
Mr.  Daveis  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  the  "  old  Portland 
Gazette,"  both  in  the  grave  and  serio-comic  style ;  while  the 
staple  of  his  time  was  devoted  to  his  preparation  for  the  bar. 
It  was  during  this  period  of  preparation  for  the  stern  realities 
of  life  that  he  laid  the  foundation  of  a  literary  fame  whicli 
never  forsook  him.  This  was  in  an  oration  delivered  before 
a  literary  society  of  Bowdoin  College.  The  subject  was 
Greek  Literature.  Dr.  Jenks,  now  the  venerable  antiquary 
of  Boston,  but  who  was  then  a  minister  in  Bath,  and  con- 
nected with  the  college,  was  so  much  pleased  witli  the  per. 
formance  that  he  procured  its  publication  in  the  "  Monthly 
Anthology,"  then  the  leading  literary  periodical  in  the  coun- 
try. It  appeared  in  the  June,  July,  and  August  numbers 
of  that  review.  It  was  brilliant  and  classical,  rather  over- 
loaded with  classical  allusions  and  illustrations.  The  editor 
of  the  Anthology  thus  introduces  the  article  :  "  The  follow- 
ing communication  upon  Greek  Literature  we  have  received 
from  the  District  of  Maine,  a  part  of  the  country  which,  in 
our  local  pride,  we  have  supposed  to  be  nearer  Boeotia  than 
our  own  ;  but  after  perusing  this  charming  rhapsody,  we 
were  forced  to  suspect,  that  in  obedience  to  the  call  of  the 
motto,  lomen  eis  Athenas,  the  young  author  of  this  piece 
would  have  less  ground  to  traverse  tlian  some  of  us  who 
fancy  that  we  live  within  sight  of  Athens."  A  few  brief 
extracts  from  the  address  must  suffice.  It  thus  commences  : 

"  In  the  evening  tlie  Grecian  exiles  used  to  sing,  '  Let  ks 
return  to  Athens.'  Let  us  return  to  Athens  this  evening,  for 
we  are  exiled  from  Greece  by  two  great  seas,  and  two  thou- 
sand years." 

"  It  is  possible  that  in  Greece  we  shall  lind  a  great  many 


CHARLES  S.   DAVEIS.  581 

memorials  of  Greece.  We  shall  be  able  to  discover  strong 
traits  of  her  ancient  genius,  and  some  remains  of  her  former 
greatness." 

"  What  if  we  first  search  the  modern  Greeks  for  some  to- 
ken of  their  descent  ?  It  will  take  but  a  moment,  and  they 
arc  living  monuments.  It  will  then  be  in  our  power  to  re- 
ply to  them,  who  taunt  us,  as  the  Corinthians  taunted 
Themistocles,  with  the  ruins  of  Athens,  that  though  Ath- 
ens is  destroyed,  there  arc  Atlienians  alive." 

"  It  is  hard  to  discover  the  son  of  a  Greek  in  the  slave  of 
a  Turk.  And  there  is  a  long  time  to  redeem  since  the  tak- 
ing of  Athens  !  Yet  we  are  willing,  like  Caesar,  to  spare 
the  living  Greeks  for  the  sake  of  the  dead." 

Mr.  Daveis  took  his  Master's  degree  in  1810,  on  which  oc- 
casion he  delivered  an  oration  on  "  tlie  Genius  of  our  Politi- 
cal Liberties,"  of  which  the  Portland  paper  thus  spoke  :  "The 
oration  by  Daveis  happily  a^nd  novelly  blended  the  exube- 
rant fancy  of  the  poet  with  the  deep  research  of  the  states- 
man and  lawyer." 

Thus  trained  and  furnished,  with  a  reputation  going  be- 
fore, Mr.  Daveis  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1810.  He  com- 
menced practice  in  his  native  town,  which  has  ever  been  the 
scene  of  his  labors,  his  triumphs,  and  his  trials.  He  devoted 
himself  to  study  and  the  duties  of  his  profession.  Not  con- 
tented, as  too  many  young  lawyers  are,  with  the  prelim- 
inary studies  and  admission  to  the  bar,  he  made  continual 
additions  to  his  stores  of  legal  knowledge  and  general  litera- 
ture. 

Mr.  Daveis  was  among  the  first  to  engage  in  equity 
practice  in  the  State.  The  system  was  unpopular  both  on 
the  bench  and  at  the  bar.  The  old  lawyers  were  prejudiced 
against  it,  principally,  pcrliaps,  because  they  were  unac- 
quainted with  its  forms  and  principles :  they  had  been 
brought  up  in  the  common  law  practice,  witli  which  they 


582  CHARLES  S.   DAVEIS:    EQUITY   PRACTICE. 

■were  familiar,  had  found  it  to  work  well  with  them,  and 
they  desired  no  change :  they  were  afraid  of  the  large  dis- 
cretionary power  which  was  supposed  to  belong  to  equity 
jurisdiction.  There  was  no  equity  practice  in  the  courts  of 
Massachusetts,  prior  to  the  separation,  except  in  cases  of 
mortgage  ;  and  bills  of  equity  under  them  were  rare.  The 
statute  of  1817  gave  jurisdiction  to  the  Supreme  Court  in 
cases  of  trusts  arising  under  deeds,  wills,  and  the  settle- 
ment of  estates.  This  power  was  adopted  by  the  statute  of 
Maine  in  1821,  to  which  was  added,  "  and  all  cases  of  con- 
tract in  writing,  where  a  party  claims  the  specific  perform- 
ance of  the  same,  and  in  which  there  may  not  be  a  plain, 
adequate,  and  complete  remedy  at  law." 

As  late  as  1821,  17th  Massachusetts  Reports,  the  court 
say  that  they  had  no  jurisdiction  in  bills  of  discovery, 
previous  to  the  statute  of  1817,  and  by  that  statute  they 
had  jurisdiction  of  trusts  created  by  deed  or  will.  They 
also  say  in  the  same  case,  that  the  Supreme  Court  has  no 
jurisdiction  in  equity,  except  sucli  as  has  been  given  by 
statute.  The  same  court  also  decided  as  late  as  1839, 
22d  Pickering,  that  no  equity  jurisdiction  to  reform  or 
rectify  contracts  had  been  conferred  upon  the  court.  The 
practice  in  equity  worked  very  slowly :  I  think  no  bills 
in  equity  were  commenced  in  Massachusetts  before  the  sep- 
aration except  on  mortgage :  in  1823,  equity  jurisdiction 
was  given  to  the  Supreme  Court  of  that  State  in  cases  of 
copartnership  and  tenants  in  common,  and  in  1827,  it  was 
extended  to  nuisances,  &c.  Maine  followed  Massachusetts 
in  these  improvements.  How  slow  the  progress  was,  may 
be  seen  by  reference  to  Greenleaf's  nine  volumes  of  reports, 
where,  in  the  space  of  twelve  years,  we  find  but  five  or  six 
cases  arising  under  the  equity  powers  of  the  court,  aside 
from  mortgages  and  the  relief  in  chancery  against  penalties 
and  forfeitures,  a  power  which  has  always  existed  in  the 


CHARLES   S.  DAVEIS:    EQUITY   PRACTICE.  583 

court.  In  the  Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States,  that 
jurisdiction  had  long  been  exercised,  and  was  encouraged 
by  Judge  Story,  who  was  partial  to  the  system. 

Into  this  practice  and  that  of  the  admiralty  court,  Mr. 
Daveis  introduced  himself,  and  became  an  adept,  which  ex- 
tended his  business  and  his  reputation  so  much,  as  that  his 
services  were  eagerly  sought  by  those  who  were  unfortunate 
enough  to  desire  tlie  aid  of  the  law  and  the  courts  in  their 
emergencies.  He  was  a  very  close  student  of  law  and 
equity,  and  probably  no  person  in  the  State  was  more  fa- 
miliar with  the  science  in  equity  and  admiralty  and  the 
forms  of  practice  in  those  courts,  than  he  was,  until  that 
department  of  jurisprudence  had  attained  sufficient  impor- 
tance to  attract  other  lawyers  to  its  study.  He  brought  to 
the  discussion  of  his  causes  all  the  learning  of  the  books, 
and  his  arguments  were  amply  freighted  with  authority  and 
precedent.  He  presented  his  causes  to  the  jury  and  the 
court  with  great  minuteness  of  detail,  leaving  nothing  to 
conjecture  or  imagination,  and  great  fullness  of  illustration. 
If  there  was  fault  in  his  arguments,  it  was  in  their  overfuU- 
ness  and  minuteness,  overloaded,  indeed,  with  illustration 
and  citation.  He  was  not,  therefore,  an  eloquent  advocate  in 
the  popular  sense,  for  his  object  was  to  convince,  rather  than 
persuade.  In  lighter  efforts  and  occasional  speeches  outside 
of  the  forum,  he  displayed  amplitude  of  resources,  and 
variety  and  beauty  of  illustration  from  classical  literature  ; 
and  these  were  also  abundantly  displayed  in  conversation, 
for  which  he  had  great  readiness  and  facility.  His  playful 
wit  was  often  summoned  to  the  amusement  of  the  bar  in 
their  hours  of  recreation.  It  was  on  one  of  these  occasions 
that  he  penned  the  following  ye «*  tV esprit.  Mr.  Longfellow, 
when  opposed  by  a  remark  or  statement  from  the  court, 
adverse  to  the  position  he  was  arguing,  would  attempt  to 
parry  its  force,  by  admitting  the  principle  as  stated  by  the 


684  CHARLES   S.   DAVEIS. 

court,  and  saying,  "  But,  your  Honors,  there  is  this  distinc- 
tion between  the  case  you  state  and  the  one  before  us."  This 
often  occasioned  a  laugh  at  the  bar,  and  once  when  a  dull 
argument  was  going  on  by  a  prosy  member,  the  idlers  busied 
themselves  writing  epitaphs  on  one  another.  Mr.  Daveis, 
prompt  on  such  occasions,  thus  hit  Mr.  Longfellow's  peculi- 
arity : 

"  Here  repose 
The  mortal  remains  of  Stephen  Longfellow, 

born ,  died . 

But  there  is  this  distinction, 
That  such  a  man  never  dies." 

For  many  years,  Mr.  Daveis  was  a  most  skillful  and  suc- 
cessful practitioner  in  the  admiralty  and  equity  courts,  where 
he  came  in  competition  with  the  best  lawyers  and  advocates 
at  the  Cumberland  Bar,  as  AVhitman,  Longfellow,  Orr, 
Greenleaf,  Fessenden,  and  others,  as  well  as  several  strong 
men  from  bars  of  other  counties  and  States.  Nor  was  his 
practice  confined  to  these  departments  of  the  law  :  he  was 
no  less  learned  in  the  principles  of  the  common  law.  His 
practice  in  this  branch  was  very  respectable,  as  frequent  re- 
currence of  his  name  in  our  early  reports  sufficiently  prove. 
For  the  ability  which  he  manifested,  we  need  only  to  refer 
to  the  reports,  and  especially  to  the  exhaustive  argument 
submitted  by  him  in  the  case  of  Fosdick  v.  Gooding  and  al, 
in  the  first  volume  of  Greenleaf 's  Reports,  on  the  subject 
of  Dower,  in  which  he  was  opposed  by  Mr,  Whitman,  after- 
wards chief  justice.  Probably  no  argument  in  the  volumes 
of  Greenleaf  shows  more  labored  research  into  the  funda- 
mental principles  and  autliorities  than  this. 

Mr.  Daveis  has  lived  to  see  the  equity  system  become  part 
of  our  code,  cultivated  as  a  science  by  our  lawyers,  and  be- 
come a  favorite  system  for  exposing  frauds,  correcting  mis- 
takes and  reaching  the  couscicncc,  where  remedies  at  com- 


CHARLES  S.   DAVEIS.  685 

mon  law  would  fail.  He  had  the  aid,  the  friendship,  and 
sympathy  of  Judge  Story,  who  had  a  high  opinion  of  his 
sagacity  and  learning. 

Mr.  Daveis  was  not  so  much  ahsorhed  by  his  professional 
pursuits  as  not  to  indulge  in  the  genial  recreations  of  liter- 
ature.    He  kept  up  fully  with  the  rapid  progress  which 
literature   was    making  among   us,   and    his    associations 
with  cultivated  persons  in  different  parts  of  the  country 
gave  tone  and  freshness  to  his  mind.     He  was  a  copious 
writer :  our  newspapers  and  periodicals  attest  the  vigor  of 
his  pen,  and  the  sprightliness  of  his  style.     He  was  a  fre- 
quent contributor  to  the  public  journals,  and  was  often 
called  upon  for  occasional  addresses.    Among  these,  was  an 
address  before  the  Portland  Benevolent  Society  in  1813,  of 
which  he  has  for  many  years  been  one  of  the  managers : 
in  1825,  he  delivered  a  long,  able,  and  interesting  historical 
discourse   at  Fryeburg,    to   commemorate   the   centennial 
anniversary  of  Lovewell's  battle  with  the  Indians,  which 
was  published.     In  1826,  he  was  selected  to  pronounce  the 
funeral  oration  on  Adams  and  Jefferson,  whose  death  taking 
place  on  the  same  day,  July  4th,  1826,  produced  a  profound 
sensation  throughout  the  country:  this  also  was  published. 
In  1839,  he  delivered  a  Latin  address  at  Brunswick  on  the 
inauguration  of  Dr.  Woods  as  President  of  Bowdoin  College. 
Some  years  after,  he  prepared  a  long  and  very  able  histori- 
cal discourse  at  the  dedication  of  the  new  chapel  at  the 
college,  in  which  he  embodied  many  interesting  facts  and 
incidents  relating  to  the  origin,  progress,  and  history  of  the 
institution.     This  was  read  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Abbot,   the 
health  of  Mr.  Daveis  not  permitting  him  to  deliver  it  him- 
self, as  part  of  the  services  of  dedication.     This  occurred 
in  September,  1854.     About  the  same  time,  he  prepared  a 
biography  of  Governor  Oilman  of  New  Hampshire,  in  the 
form  of  an  address,  delivered  at  Exeter,  which  is  a  part  of 

88 


586  CHARLES  S.   DAVEIS. 

the  transactions  of  the  Historical  Society  of  that  State,  which 
the  subject  of  the  memoir  long  adorned  by  his  life  and 
counsels.  In  1845,  Mr.  Daveis's  good  friend,  Judge  Story, 
ended  his  life  and  usefulness  on  earth,  at  the  age  of  sixty- 
six,  deeply  and  universally  lamented.  Of  this  learned 
judge,  a  writer  in  the  Law  Reporter  of  October,  1845,  says, 
"  A  greater  than  Sir  Samuel  Romilly  has  fallen  in  the  midst 
of  us.  The  death  of  Mr.  Justice  Story  will  create  a  void  in 
the  judiciary,  in  the  professor's  chair,  and  in  the  social  lit- 
erary circle,  which  no  living  man  can  fill."  The  bars  of 
several  counties  and  States  honored  the  memory  of  this  dis- 
tinguished judge  by  grateful  tributes.  In  Cumberland 
County,  the  resolutions  were  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Daveis,  and 
presented  at  a  meeting  of  the  bar  of  the  Circuit  Court  of 
the  United  States,  at  which  Mr.  Longfellow  presided. 
They  were  full  of  sympathy,  grateful  acknowledgment,  and 
classical  purity.  We  will  present  in  one  of  them  a  single 
specimen.  "  We  rejoice  that  it  was  eminently  his  fortune 
to  carry  out  so  near  to  its  natural  close,  a  career  rarely 
equalled  in  the  judicial  life  of  a  single  individual,  rewarded 
by  so  many  results,  and  crowned  with  such  celebrity.  The 
sun  knoweth  his  going  down.  And  although  painful  and 
unexpected,  we  may  not  feel  it  to  be  otherwise  than  a  fuial 
harmonious  felicity,  in  keeping  with  his  signal  lot,  that  he 
should  have  breathed  his  last  before  he  retired  from  the 
bench.  Felix  non  vitcc  tanlum  r/aritate,  sed  ctiam  opporlu- 
nitate  mortis.''^  To  the  resolutions,  Judge  Ware  made  au 
elegant  and  feeling  rej)ly. 

In  1855,  Mr.  Daveis  was  a})pointed  by  the  mayor  and 
aldermen  of  Portland  on  a  large  committee,  to  investigate 
the  causes  of  a  serious  riot  which  occurred  in  Portland  in 
June  of  that  year,  and  which  resulted  in  tlie  death  of  John 
Robljins,  one  of  the  rioters.  It  grew  out  of  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  liquor  law  by  Mayor  Dow.     The  committee 


CHARLES  S.   DAVEIS.  587 

was  engaged  several  days  in  this  delicate  duty,  and  their 
report  was  published  in  a  pamphlet  of  fifty  pages.  Mr. 
Daveis,  in  a  very  elaborate  article  published  iu  the  Law 
Reporter,  vol.  18,  p.  361,  reviewed  in  a  clear  and  able 
manner,  not  only  the  pamphlet,  but  the  whole  subject,  in 
all  its  bearings  of  morals,  philosophy,  and  law.  In  1859, 
Mr.  Daveis  prepared  the  article  on  the  Society  of  Cincinnati, 
which  occupies  several  columns  of  the  American  Encyclo- 
pedia, and  presents  in  a  clear  and  concise  form,  and  in  the 
best  manner  of  Mr.  Daveis,  a  history  of  this  renowned  in- 
stitution, of  which  he  is  a  member,  as  successor  of  his 
father,  and  president  of  the  Massachusetts  branch.  These 
are  some  of  the  literary  labors  for  which  the  public  are 
indebted  to  the  industry  of  this  learned  gentleman.  Nor 
does  this  comprise  the  whole  of  their  obligation  to  him,  for 
in  his  many-sided  character  and  pursuits,  he  did  not  shun 
politics, —  a  favorite  field  of  American  lawyers  and  scholars. 
He  early  engaged  with  ardor  in  the  discussions  relating 
to  our  northeastern  boundary  in  the  conflict  with  the  Brit- 
ish government,  and  pursued  the  investigation  with  the 
skill  and  research  of  a  lawyer,  and  presented  the  results  in 
clear  and  able  arguments.  In  1827,  Mr.  Daveis  was  ap- 
pointed by  Governor  Lincoln,  under  a  resolve  of  the  Legis- 
lature, agent  of  the  State  to  inquire  into  facts  relating  to 
aggressions  upon  the  rights  of  the  State  and  individual 
citizens,  by  inhabitants  of  the  Province  of  New  Brunswick, 
In  pursuance  of  this  commission,  he  proceeded  to  New 
Brunswick  in  1827,  and  having  attended  to  the  arduous 
duties  assigned  him,  embodied  the  result  of  his  inquiries  in 
a  report  to  the  Executive  which  occupies  twenty-five  octavo 
pages  in  the  documents  of  the  Legislature.  In  consequence 
of  his  familiarity  with  the  subject,  and  the  useful  information 
he  had  acquired  in  examining  this  perplexing  question,  he 
was  sent,  in  1829,  with  dispatches  from  the  United  States  to 


588  CHARLES   S.    DAVEIS. 

Judge  Preble,  who  then  represented  the  government  at  the 
Hague,  the  king  of  Holland  having  been  appointed  arbiter 
in  the  dispute  between  the  two  countries  on  that  subject. 
This  gave  Mr.  Daveis  a  favorable  opportunity  to  enlarge  the 
sphere  of  his  observation  by  foreign  travel.  In  1838,  the 
services  of  Mr.  Daveis  were  again  invoked,  and  he  was  ap- 
pointed a  special  agent  "  to  co-operate  with  our  delegation 
in  forwarding  the  views  of  the  Legislature  and  the  people, 
and  in  urging  our  claims  and  our  determination  upon  the 
attention  of  the  government."  Of  the  manner  in  which 
this  mission  was  conducted.  Governor  Kent's  message  will 
tell.  It  thus  speaks :  "  Mr.  Daveis  immediately  repaired  to 
Washington,  and  performed  the  duties  required  with  great 
zeal,  discretion,  and  ability,  and  to  my  entire  satisfaction, 
with  equal  honor  to  himself,  and  benefit  to  the  cause."  In 
1841,  Mr.  Daveis  was  a  senator  from  Cumberland  in  the 
State  Legislature,  and  was  appointed  chairman  of  a  joint 
select  committee  upon  the  northeastern  boundary.  In  this 
capacity,  he  submitted  a  report  on  the  thirtieth  of  March, 
which  occupies  fifty-five  octavo  pages  in  the  printed  copy  of 
the  resolves  of  that  year.  It  is  a  clear,  calm,  thorough, 
historical  and  legal  argument  in  support  of  the  justice  of 
the  claim  of  Maine  to  the  whole  of  the  territory  under  the 
just  and  fair  construction  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  and  em- 
braces a  justification  of  the  conduct  of  the  State  in  vindi- 
cating her  lawful  rights  against  the  hostile  acts  of  the 
people  of  New  Brunswick. 

The  merits  of  Mr.  Daveis  in  the  various  capacities  in 
which  we  have  presented  him,  have  not  passed  unnoticed  by 
an  observant  and  appreciating  community.  In  1828,  he 
was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society,  and 
more  recently,  an  honorary  member  of  the  Massachusetts 
Historical  Society.  In  1814,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of 
the  Phi-Beta-Kappa  Society  of  Harvard  College,  the  privi- 


CHARLES    S.   DAVEIS.  689 

legos  of  the  society  not  having  then  been  extended  to 
Bowdoin.  In  1830,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  trustees  of 
Bowdoin  College,  having  been  several  years  prior,  one  of 
the  overseers,  and  has  served  the  institution  which  nourished 
hira,  with  most  devoted  assiduity  and  affection  :  the  honor 
she  conferred  upon  him  in  1844,  of  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Laws,  was  no  less  due  to  him  for  his  literary  and  scientific 
position  in  the  domain  of  learning,  than  his  ardent  love  for 
his  literary  mother.  He  has  stood  by  her  in  season  and  out 
of  season,  joying  in  her  prosperity  and  sorrowing  in  her 
trials,  for  more  than  half  a  century.  He  has  felt  with  her, 
and  labored  for  her,  during  the  whole  period  of  her  exist- 
ence —  now  sixty  years. 

We  have  to  look  at  Mr.  Daveis  in  one  phase  more  before 
we  take  leave  of  him,  and  that  is  in  his  interior  life  —  his 
life  of  life.  He  had  got  well  under  way  in  business ;  the 
war  of  1812,  which  had  prostrated  Portland,  was  fully  over, 
and  the  star  of  peace  was  shining  through  the  broken  clouds, 
when  he  united  himself  to  the  excellent  and  lovely  woman 
who  became  his  dear  and  cherished  companion  for  nearly 
forty-five  years  that  she  remained  by  his  side.  He  was 
married  in  June,  1815,  to  Elizabeth,  a  daughter  of  Governor 
Gilman  of  New  Hampshire,  whose  three  other  daughters 
were  married  to  Nicholas  Emery,  the  Rev.  Dr.  Nichols 
of  Portland,  and  Dr.  John  G.  Cogswell,  late  of  the  Astor 
Library  —  all  highly  distinguished  in  their  several  walks  in 
life.  Their  wives,  coming  from  a  fine  ancestral  stock,  the 
aristocracy  of  New  Hampshire,  —  and  the  genuine  republi- 
canism, too,  —  were  distinguished  for  their  refinement, 
their  purity  and  elevation  of  character,  and  the  highest  typo 
of  womanly  virtues.     They  are  all  dead ;   Mrs.   Cogswell 

being  the  first,  and  Mrs.  Daveis  the  last  to  leave  the  earth 

her  lamented  death  having  taken  place  April  3d,  1860. 
Four  children,  survived  her,  two  sons  and  two  daughters, 


690  CHARLES   S.    DAVEIS:    CUARLES   SIIAW. 

all  ill  prosperous  circumstances  in  life,  the  sons  educated, 
one  to  medicine,  the  other  to  the  law.  Mr.  Daveis,  thus 
left  alone,  with  a  system  enfeebled  by  an  attack  of  paralysis, 
pursues  his  solitary  way,  looking  upward  and  onward,  with 
the  hope  and  trust  which  are  a  perpetual  benediction  to 
the  human  soul.  Tiiis  attack  occurred  in  1851,  and  im- 
paired the  use  of  his  limbs  on  the  right  side,  and  affected 
his  speech.  He  did  not  sufficiently  recover  to  engage  again 
in  the  duties  of  his  profession ;  but  he  was  not  disabled 
from  enjoying  society :  the  genial  play  of  his  mind  contin- 
ued to  interest  and  gratify  his  friends.  His  habit  of  writing, 
too,  was  a  source  of  enjoyment:  he  not  only  kept  up  a 
copious  correspondence,  but,  as  will  be  perceived  by  our 
previous  statements,  some  of  his  best  and  most  matured 
articles  were  written  after  his  bodily  prostration.  Our  best 
"wishes  attend  this  accomplished  gentleman  through  the  re- 
mainder of  his  declining  years,  which,  we  trust,  in  the 
midst  of  his  genial  family  of  children  and  grandchildren, 
will  cheerfully  and  calmly  pass  on,  until  the  leaves  fall 
gently,  at  last,  from  the  ripened  stock. 

CHARLES     SHAW.      1810  —  1828. 

John  H.  Sheppard  of  Boston,  who  long  practiced  in  Lin- 
coln County,  having  been  a  student  of  Judge  Wilde  and 
Thomas  Bond  of  the  Kennebec  Bar,  and  who  has  furnished 
me  many  interesting  materials  for  the  legal  antiquities  of 
the  Lincoln  Bar,  has  contributed  the  essential  portions  of 
the  following  tribute  to  the  accomplished  Shaw.     He  says  : 

One  gentleman,  once  a  member  of  the  Lincoln  Bar,  who 
left  us  and  went  South,  you  do  not  mention.  If  he  comes 
witliin  the  circle  of  deceased  Maine  lawyers  of  some  note, 
perhaps  an  account  of  him  may  not  be  superfluous.  I  refer 
to  Charles  Shaw,  once  more  known  as  a  ripe  scholar  and 
fine  writer  than  as  a  lawyer. 


CHARLES  SHAW.  591 

Charles  Shaw  was  born  in  Bath,  February  20,  1782,  the 
soil  of  Major  Joshua  Shaw,  a  respectable  merchant  of  that 
town,  who  was  born  in  Braintree  or  Weymouth,  Massachu- 
setts, in  1755,  and  came  to  Bath  with  his  father,  Elisha 
Shaw,  a  young  man.  After  being  thrice  married,  and  hav- 
ing by  his  three  wives  a  large  family  of  children,  he  died  at 
Phippsburg,  in  1809.  One  of  his  sons  was  Dr.  Moses 
Shaw,  a  physician,  an  active  politician,  and  Collector  of 
Wiscasset  under  the  administration  of  President  Harrison  : 
he  died  in  Wiscasset,  in  1847. 

Charles,  the  oldest  son,  was  educated  at  Harvard  College, 
and  took  his  first  degree  in  1805,  having  the  distinction  of 
the  salutatory  oration,  which  is  the  second  assignment  in 
order  of  scholarship  in  that  college.  He  afterwards  studied 
law  with  Nathaniel  Coffin  at  Bath,  and  then  opened  an 
office  in  Jefferson,  about  1810  or  '11,  an  obscure  village  at 
the  head  of  Damariscotta  Pond,  where  there  were  some 
mills  —  then  thought  to  be  the  Ultima  Tlmle  of  civilization. 
Mr.  Shaw  was  an  elegant  belle-lettre  scholar,  a  man  of 
refined  taste,  and  a  practical  master  of  music  ;  but  though 
married,  he  found  his  lot  dreary  enough  in  this  hamlet  of 
woods,  waters,  and  grog-shops, —  among  lumberers  and  mill- 
men, —  where  the  piano  of  his  beautiful  wife  astonished, 
but  never  could  tame  the  rough  natures  around  him.  Yet 
the  location  was  a  hot-bed  of  suits,  —  with  Nat.  Bryant,  a 
noted  magnate  of  Nobleboro',  for  his  client,  —  and  would 
have  been  eligible  if  he  could  only  have  got  his  pay. 

A  few  years  he  struggled  and  suffered  in  this  situation, 
and  then  removed  to  Montgomery,  in  Alabama,  where  he 
was  appointed  a  judge  of  one  of  their  courts,  and  died  in 
1828.  I  knew  him  well :  he  was  one  of  the  best  Latin 
scholars  I  ever  saw,  and  was  among  the  very  few  who  could 
scan  the  odes  of  Horace,  and  reduce  their  prosody  to  sweet 
and  melodious  cadences  of  the  voice.     He  wrote  iu  college, 


692  CHARLES   SUAW  :    LUTHER   FITCH. 

an  elegant  elegiac  piece  or  ode  on  the  death  of  President 
Willard,  for  which  he  received  the  triple  mark  of  Professor 
Pearson  :  it  was  published  and  much  admired.  He  wrote 
a  book  called, "  An  Historical  Description  of  Boston,"  which 
was  published  in  1817  ;  and,  in  its  day,  was  much  valued 
both  for  its  style  and  matter.  He  was  a  man  of  great  read- 
ing and  pleasing  manners ;  too  modest  to  make  his  merit 
known  at  the  bar,  and  too  refined  to  enter  the  arena  of 
mental  gymnastics  in  a  court  of  law  ;  but  his  talents  and 
education  were  of  a  high  order.  He  was  a  member  of  tho 
Antiquarian  Society  of  Worcester. 

LUTHER     FITCH.      1810  — 

The  Fitches,  Ffytche,  as  the  name  was  spelled,  in  at  least 
one  branch  of  the  family  in  England,  came  to  this  country 
from  the  county  of  Essex,  England.  There  were  several 
branches  in  that  county,  whose  coats  of  arms  were  similar, 
with  slight  variations.  They  all  bore  on  the  shield  a  leopard 
or  a  leopard's  head,  and  the  crest  was  a  leopard's  head, 
or,  or  cabossed  (  full-faced  )  or. 

Two  brothers,  Thomas  and  James,  established  themselves 
in  Connecticut  in  1G38,  and  were  the  ancestors  of  a  numer- 
ous race  in  that  State.  Others  of  the  name  came  to  Mas- 
sachusetts as  early  as  1635 :  among  these,  was  Zechary  or 
Zechariah,  of  Reading,  who  was  made  freeman  September 
7, 1638.  He  had  a  large  family,  seven  sons  and  one  daugh- 
ter, whose  names  are  mentioned :  among  these  was  Zechary, 
who  was  born  March  6,  1647.  From  this  stock,  descended 
the  sul)ject  of  our  memoir,  wliosc  father  and  grandfather 
both  bore  the  name  of  Zechariah.  His  father  was  ))orn  in 
Bedford,  formerly  a  part  of  Billerica,  in  1732,  and  moved 
in  early  life  into  Groton.  He,  with  his  brother  William, 
were  members  of  the  celebrated  corps  of  Rangers,  under 


"1^.'^ 


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At    tLe   a^e    of  ^. 


LUTHER   FITCH.  593 

Major  Rogers  in  the  French  War,  and  made  successful  raids 
on  the  frontier,  in  which  William  lost  his  life.  Zechariah 
rose  in  his  military  service  to  the  rank  of  captain.  In  1707, 
lie  married  for  his  third  wife  Sybil  Lakin,  a  descendant  of 
Sergeant  Lakin,  one  of  the  original  proprietors  of  Groton. 
By  his  three  wives,  he  had  a  large  family  of  sons  and  daugh- 
ters, several  of  wliom  migrated  to  Maine  in  the  early  part 
of  this  century,  or  near  the  close  of  the  last,  and  became 
enterprising  and  useful  citizens.  By  his  fourth  wife,  whom 
he  married  at  tlic  age  of  seventy-five,  he  had  no  children. 
He  died  in  1820,  in  the  eighty-eighth  year  of  his  age.  His 
son  Luther,  the  subject  of  the  present  notice,  was  born  in 
Groton,  Massachusetts,  January  28,  1783,  and  was  the 
youngest  son  of  his  third  wife.  Having  received  his  pre- 
liminary education  in  the  good  schools  of  his  native  town, 
and  especially  at  the  Groton  Academy,  of  which  Mr.  Rich- 
ardson, afterwards  chief  justice  of  New  Hampshire,  was  the 
preceptor,  he  entered  Dartmouth  College,  from  which  he 
took  his  degree  in  1807.  His  class  contained  men  who  after- 
wards became  distinguislied  in  life,  —  Joseph  Bell,  LL.  D.  ; 
Timothy  Farrar,  treasurer  and  librarian  of  the  college  ; 
Col.  Thayer,  formerly  chief  of  the  Military  Academy  at 
West  Point ;  and  the  learned  George  Ticknor  of  Boston. 
Dartmouth  has  furnished  many  eminent  lawyers  to  the 
profession  in  Maine  :  we  need  only  mention  Wilde,  Salmon 
Chase,  Dana,  Eincry,  McGaw,  Fcssenden,  Farris,  Orr,  Brad- 
ley, Herbert,  and  Shcpley.  Mr.  Fitch  commenced  the  study 
of  his  profession  with  Dudley  Chase,  brother  of  the  honored 
Salmon  Chase  of  Portland,  and  the  late  Bishop  Chase  of 
Illinois.  Mr.  Chase  lived  in  Orange  County,  Vermont,  was 
ten  years  senator  in  Congress,  and  chief  justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  his  State.  Mr.  Fitch  continued  with  him 
eight  months,  and  then  completed  his  term  of  study  in  the 
ollice  of  Dana  and  Richardson  in  Groton,  and  was  admitted 
to  the  bar  of  Middlesex  in  1810. 


694  LUTHER   FITCII. 

Having  friends  and  relatives  in  the  county  of  Camber- 
land,  he  came  immediately  to  Westbrook,  then  a  part  of 
Falmouth,  but  incorporated  in  1814,  and  opened  an  ofticc 
in  the  village  of  Saccarappa.  This  was  then  a  very  flour- 
ishing place,  lying  on  the  Prcsumpscot  River,  about  half 
way  between  its  mouth  in  Casco  Bay,  and  its  large  and 
unfailing  reservoir  in  Sebago  Pond.  From  the  first  settle- 
ment of  the  country,  the  village  and  the  falls  of  the  river 
over  which  it  spreads,  have  been  improved  for  manufactur- 
ing purposes  ;  first,  in  all  the  processes  of  converting  the 
abundant  and  beautiful  growth  which  covered  the  surround- 
ing country,  into  various  descriptions  of  lumber,  and 
afterwards,  in  manufacturing  the  more  valuable  fabrics  of 
cotton,  and  wool,  and  paper.  It  was  an  admirable  station  for 
a  lawyer,  for  in  such  a  population,  especially  devoted  to  the 
irregular  operations  of  lumbering  and  milling,  the  habits  of 
the  people,  particularly  in  that  period,  were  apt  to  be  wild 
and  disorderly,  and  led  to  litigation,  and  the  final  arbitra- 
ment of  the  courts.  Saccarappa  was  no  exception  to  the 
rule.  Mr.  Fitch  was,  at  the  time  he  commenced  practice, 
the  only  lawyer  there.  He  succeeded  Peter  Thacher,  a 
son  of  the  Rev.  Josiah  Thacher  of  Gorham,  who  studied 
his  profession  with  William  Symmes,  was  admitted  to  prac- 
tice in  1804,  and  opened  an  office  in  Saccarappa.  He 
remained  there  about  five  years,  when  he  returned  to 
Gorham,  leaving  the  field  entirely  open  to  the  new  comer. 

Mr.  Fitch  was  well  trained,  thoroughly  furnished,  of  ripe 
age  and  matured  powers,  and  well  calculated  to  enter  upon 
the  rugged  duties  which  the  practice,  in  such  a  community, 
required.  He  was  intelligent ;  he  was  persevering  and 
resolute  ;  and  he  steadily  pursued  his  practice,  commanding 
the  business  of  the  village  and  its  vicinity,  and  drawing 
towards  him  from  the  interior  parts  of  the  country,  business 
relating  to  lumbering  operations ;  for  the  practice  of  which, 


LUTHER   FITCH.  695 

lie  had,  by  study  and  experience,  acquired  much  skill.  Ho 
had  well  studied  the  peculiarities  of  this  branch  of  business, 
and  had  the  tact  effectively  to  apply  his  knowledge.  Tliere 
are  good  real  estate  lawyers,  and  there  are  good  commercial 
lawyers  :  we  have  given  striking  examples  in  the  foregoing 
sketches,  of  eminent  and  successful  practitioners  in  these 
important  branches ;  as  Bridge,  Wilde,  and  Williams  in 
real  estate,  and  Whitman,  Greenleaf,  Longfellow,  and 
Hubbard  as  commercial  lawyers.  The  law  regulating  the 
cutting,  hauling,  driving,  and  sawing  of  timber  is  quite  dif- 
ferent from  either  of  the  others,  and  trains  another  class  of 
minds  ;  and  it  is  especially  pursued  by  lawyers  living  by  the 
side  of  our  water-falls,  where  this  kind  of  business  centers. 
Among  lawyers  thus  situated  and  disciplined,  were  Mellen 
from  the  Saco,  Orr  from  the  Androscoggin,  and  Boutelle 
from  the  Kennebec.  In  this  line  of  practice,  Mr.  Fitch, 
living  in  the  midst  of  a  very  busy  and  thrifty  lumbering 
population  on  the  Presumpscot,  was  very  successful,  and 
accumulated  property,  which  was  considerably  increased  by 
a  fortunate  marriage  and  prudent  management.  He  was 
not  an  eloquent  advocate,  but  he  was  a  shrewd,  discriminat- 
ing lawyer,  comprehending  the  strong  points  of  his  own 
causes  and  the  weak  ones  of  his  opponent,  and  he  pressed 
both  with  vigor  and  perseverance  during  tlie  fifteen  years 
that  he  was  in  the  practice. 

In  1820,  on  the  organization  of  the  new  State,  he  was 
appointed  attorney  for  the  county,  by  Governor  King  ;  and 
in  1825,  the  Municipal  Court  for  Portland,  the  first  of  the 
kind  introduced  into  our  State,  having  been  established,  he 
was  appointed  the  first  judge.  By  a  special  provision  in 
the  law,  constituting  this  tribunal,"  The  judge  shall  not,  in 
any  case,  act  as  counsellor  or  attorney  in  any  court :  "  he 
was  thus,  by  the  acceptance  of  this  office,  withdrawn  from 
the  practice.     He  soon  after  transferred  his  residence  from 


590  LUTHER  FITCH. 

Westbrook  to  Portland,  which  was  ever  after  to  bo   the 
scene  of  his  labors. 

xVsajudge,  Mr.  Fitch  was  faithful,  strictly  scrupulous 
and  conscientious ;  his  decisions  were  well  considered, 
sound,  and  approved  ;  he  listened  attentively  and  calmly  to 
evidence,  patiently  investigated  the  facts,  and  deliberately 
arrived  at  conclusions,  generally  correct  and  satisfactory. 
His  court  had,  besides  its  civil  matters  cognizable  by  justices 
of  the  peace,  jurisdiction  also  in  the  worst  and  most  vexa- 
tious cases  on  the  criminal  side,  —  all  simple  larcenies 
under  twenty  dollars,  all  offenses  against  the  by-laws  of  the 
city,  complaints  for  keeping  houses  of  ill-fame,  riots, 
drunkenness,  &c.,  —  which  brought  before  him  the  lowest 
characters  in  the  community,  with  whose  disorders  and 
irregularities  he  had  often  very  sharp  contention.  The 
manner  in  which  he  discharged  the  disagreeable  duties  of 
this  responsible  office,  cannot  be  better  proved  than  by  the 
fact  that  he  held  it  by  successive  appointments,  through  all 
changes  of  administration,  for  a  period  of  twenty-nine  years, 
to  1854,  at  which  time  he  had  arrived  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
one  years.  Mr  Williamson,  the  historian,  in  a  manuscript 
note  to  a  list  of  lawyers  prepared  by  him,  says,  "  Luther 
Eitch  was  a  good  lawyer,  and  a  worthy,  well-esteemed  man  ; 
was  city  judge  of  Portland,  and  filled  the  office  to  his  own 
credit  and  the  public  satisfaction."  The  remark  we  know 
to  be  true,  for  we  had  occasion  to  appear  in  his  court  often 
during  the  whole  term  of  his  official  life,  and  can  add,  that 
he  was  an  honest  and  impartial  judge,  and  that  his  uniform 
endeavor  was,  in  every  cause,  to  render  a  just  and  impartial 
judgment. 

Judge  Fitch  married  Almira  Titcoml),  June  23, 1816. 
She  was  a  daughter  of  Andrew  Phillips  Titcomb,  tlie  oldest 
son  of  Deacon  Benjamin  Titcomb,  an  old  and  most  respected 
citizen   of   Portland,   Avho   died   October    15,    1798.      Her 


^' 


\  % 


# 


.-^ 


4/1r^  ^^^^ 


LUTHER  FITCH  :   WILLIAM  P.   PREBLE.  597 

mother  was  Mary  Dole,  a  daughter  of  Daniel  Dole,  also  a 
citizen  of  Portland,  whose  wife,  as  also  Benjamin  Titcomb's, 
was  a  daugliter  of  Moses  Pearson,  the  first  sheriff  of  Cum- 
berland County.  They  all,  Pearson,  Titcomb,  and  Dole,  im- 
migrated to  that  part  of  Falmouth  which  is  now  Portland, 
many  years  before  the  Revolution,  from  Xcwbury,  Massachu- 
setts. Judge  Fitch  and  his  wife,  and  their  eight  cliildren, 
five  daughters  and  three  sons,  arc  all  living.  The  eldest 
daughter  married  Dr.  Josiah  Blake  of  Harrison  ;  another, 
Samuel  F.  Pcrlcy  of  Naples  ;  a  third,  Henry  E.  Perley  ;  and 
the  youngest,  Henry  Willis,  both  of  Portland  :  one  daughter 
is  unmarried.  Of  the  three  sons,  one  is  a  physician  in 
California,  another  a  surgeon  in  the  army. 

WILLIAM    PITT    PREBLE.      1811  —  1857. 

The  first  of  the  Preble  family  in  Maine,  and  the  ancestor 
of  all  of  the  name  in  the  State,  was  Abraham  Preble,  who 
came  to  Scituate  in  Massachusetts,  prior  to  1G37,  from  Eng- 
land, and  was  one  of  the  first  settlers  of  that  town.  He 
was  in  this  State  as  early  as  1642,  in  which  year  he  pur- 
chased of  Edward  Godfrey,  the  agent  of  Gorges,  a  tract  of 
land  in  Agamenticus,  now  York,  and  continued  to  reside  in 
that  town  until  his  death,  which  took  place  in  1663.  Ho 
sustained  during  his  residence  in  Maine,  some  of  the  most 
considerable  and  responsible  offices  in  the  Province  :  in 
1645,  he  was  one  of  the  councilors  of  Sir  Ferdinando 
Gorges,  and  continued  to  hold  the  office  as  long  as  the 
government  of  that  proprietor  was  maintained.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  General  Court  of  the  Province  ;  one  of  the 
commissioners  to  hold  county  courts  ;  treasurer  sometime  ; 
and  the  chief  military  officer  of  the  Province.  His  descend- 
ants have  been  distinguished  in  our  history  since  that  time : 
his  son  Benjamin  filled  many  important  offices ;  and  his 


598  WILLIAM  P.   PREBLE. 

great-grandson,  Brigadier-General  Preble  of  Portland,  was 
not  only  conspicuous  for  half  a  century  in  our  annals  as  a 
military  officer  and  magistrate,  but  was  the  father  of  the 
renowned  Commodore  Edward  Preble,  and  also  of  Ebenczer 
and  Plenry,  distinguished  merchants,  and  Enoch,  an  able 
shipmaster. 

Judge  Preble,  the  subject  of  our  present  notice,  was  in 
the  same  degree  of  descent  from  the  common  ancestor  as 
Commodore  Preble,  —  the  fifth  or  great-grcat-gran 'son, — 
his  grandfather,  Samuel,  being  the  son  of  the  second  Abra- 
ham. His  father,  Esaias,  was  a  whig  of  the  Revolution,  a 
captain  in  the  service,  and  a  member  of  the  convention  of 
Massachusetts  to  ratify  the  Constitution :  he  voted  against 
it.  Judge  Preble  was  born  in  that  part  of  the  town  of 
York  which  is  called  Scotland  Parish,  from  its  being  settled 
principally  by  Scotch  people,  November  27,  1783.  He  was 
fitted  for  college  by  the  Rev.  Rosewell  Messinger  of  York, 
for  many  years  the  blind  preacher ;  and  graduated  at  Har- 
vard in  1806,  in  a  very  distinguished  class,  —  containing 
such  names  as  Dr.  Bigelow  of  Boston  ;  Dr.  Burroughs  of 
Portsmouth ;  Dr.  Cogswell  of  the  Astor  Library  ;  Alexander 
II.  Everett ;  Prof.  Oliver  ;  and  Ebenezer  Everett  of  our  own 
State.  Among  these  scholars,  Mr.  Preble  took  high  rank, 
especially  in  the  mathematics,  —  which  led,  in  1809,  to  his 
appointment  as  tutor  in  that  branch  at  Harvard,  —  suc- 
cessor to  the  late  Dr.  Ichabod  Nichols.  This  situation  he 
retained  for  two  years,  associating  in  the  duty  of  instruction 
and  the  intercourse  of  literary  fellowship  with  Professor 
Farrar,  Professor  McKcen,  Professor  Willard,  and  the  ac- 
complished scholars.  Tutors  Frisbie  and  Ware. 

Mr.  Preble  having  pursued  the  study  of  law,  partly  in 
the  office  of  Benjamin  Ilascy  in  Topsham,  and  ])artly  in 
that  of  Mr.  Orr  in  Brunswick,  commenced  practice,  first  in 
York,  whence,  in  a  short  time,  ho  moved  to  Alfred,  and  was 


WILLIAM   P.    PREBLE.  699 

there  appointed,  in  1811,  County  Attorney  for  York.  In 
1813,  he  moved  to  Saco:  in  1814,  he  received  from  President 
Madison  the  appointment  of  United  States  Attorney  for  the 
district,  as  successor  to  Silas  Lee,  who  died  in  that  year. 
In  1818,  he  moved  to  Portland,  which  ever  after  continued  to 
be  his  place  of  residence.  He  entered  ihe  profession  with  a 
clear,  discriminating  mind,  and  high  logical  powers,  and  con- 
sequently made  rapid  progress  to  its  higher  eminences.  He 
had  a  faculty  of  presenting  his  cases  both  to  the  jury  and 
the  court,  in  a  concise  and  perspicuous  style,  which  left  no 
doubt  on  their  minds  as  to  his  meaning  :  in  this  respect,  he 
caught  the  manner  of  his  teacher,  Mr.  Orr,  whom  he  resem- 
bled in  his  mode  of  argument.  He  aimed  to  convince  the 
judgment,  rather  than  by  persuasive  eloquence  to  seduce 
the  passions.  In  a  few  years,  he  rose  to  the  front  rank  of 
the  profession  in  Maine,  and  became  a  competitor  with  the 
distinguished  men  who  then  honored  the  bars  of  the  several 
counties,  —  Dane,  McUen,  Whitman,  Holmes,  Longfellow, 
Wilde,  Allen,  Greenleaf,  Fesscnden,  Crosby,  McGaw,  and 
many  others.  And  so  prominent  had  he  become,  that  on 
the  separation  of  the  State,  in  1820,  from  Massachusetts,  he 
was  selected,  although  only  nine  years  at  the  bar,  as  one  of 
the  three  judges  of  the  highest  judicial  tribunal  of  the 
new  State. 

Judge  Preble  continued  on  the  bench  but  eight  years. 
The  decisions  of  the  court  of  which  he  was  a  member,  are 
contained  in  the  first  five  volumes  of  Greenleaf's  Reports. 
The  majority  of  the  opinions  were  drawn  up  by  Chief  Justice 
Mellon :  those  which  appear  in  the  name  of  Judge  Preble 
exhibit  the  soundness  of  argument  and  perspicuity  of  state- 
ment which  characterize  all  Judge  Preble's  written  com- 
munications. Ho  was  undoubtedly  a  learned,  clear-minded 
judge  :  his  defects  on  the  bench  were  those  of  the  temper  : 
he  was  hasty  and  irritable,  which  rendered  him  impatient 


GOO  WILLIAM   P.   PREBLE. 

occasionally,  and  disturbed  the  calmness  and  equanimity  of 
mind  which  arc  high  qualities  in  the  judicial  oOice.  The 
Supreme  Court  of  Maine  was  never  more  able  than  during 
the  eight  years  in  which  Judge  Preble  was  a  member  of  it, 
with  Chief  Justice  McUcn  at  its  head.  Its  decisions  wero 
learned,  and  commanded  the  respect  of  judicial  tribunals 
in  all  parts  of  the  country. 

Judge  Preble  retired  from  this  honorable  position  in 
1828  to  enter  upon  a  diplomatic  service.  The  state  of  the 
country  was  alarming  from  the  agitation  of  the  northeast- 
ern boundary  question  :  the  governments  had  agreed  to 
submit  the  controversy  to  the  arbitration  of  the  King  of 
Holland,  and  Judge  Preble  was  associated  with  Mr.  Galla- 
tin, who  was  the  American  Minister  at  London,  to  prepare 
the  case  for  a  hearing  ;  and  the  same  year,  he  was  appointed 
by  Gen.  Jackson  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the  Hague,  to 
represent  the  interest  of  the  country  in  that  important  case. 
It  is  well  known  that  the  King  of  Holland  made  his  award 
in  January,  1831,  and  instead  of  deciding  the  controversy 
upon  its  merits  and  the  proof,  recommended  a  compromise 
line,  to  follow  the  course  of  the  river  St.  John  to  its  tribu- 
tary, the  St.  Francis,  thence  to  the  source  of  the  southwest 
branch  of  that  river,  thence  on  a  line  due  west  to  the  agreed 
boundary  line.  The  question  submitted,  was  to  determine 
the  highlands  of  the  treaty,  which  the  Dutch  king  seems 
not  to  have  been  able  to  find,  except  in  the  bed  of  a  river. 
Judge  Preble  made  a  very  severe  protest  against  this  award, 
in  January,  1831,  and  returned  the  same  year  to  his  own 
country  to  resist  its  acceptance  by  our  government.  The 
protest,  after  quoting  from  the  treaty  the  description  of  the 
boundary  line  to  be  adjusted,  observes,  "  The  manner  of 
carrying  this  exceedingly  definite  and  lucid  description  of 
boundary  into  effect,  by  running  the  line  as  described,  and 
marking  the  line  on  the  surface  of  the  earth,  was  the  sub- 


WILLIAM   P.   PREBLE:    NORTHEASTERN  BOUNDARY.       601 

ject,  the  sole,  exclusive  subject,  submitted  by  the  conven- 
tion of  September  1827,  in  pursuance  of  the  treaty  of 
Ghent,  to  an  arbitrator."  Again  it  says,  "  In  the  present 
case,  especially,  as  any  revision  or  substitution  of  boundary 
whatever,  had  been  steadily,  and  in  a  spirit  of  unalterable 
determination,  resisted  at  Glient  and  at  Washington,  they 
had  not  anticipated  the  possibility  of  there  being  any  occa- 
sion for  delegating  such  powers."  Judge  Preble  was  sus- 
tained in  his  opposition  to  the  decision  of  the  arbiter,  by  the 
government  and  people  of  Maine :  John  G.  Deane,  on 
behalf  of  a  committee  of  the  Legislature,  drew  an  able 
argument  against  the  reasoning  and  principles  of  the  award, 
concluding  with  a  recommendation  that  the  United  States 
"  will  not  consider  themselves  bound  on  any  principle  to 
adopt  it." 

Judge  Preble  returned  to  Maine  in  1831,  and  was  ap- 
pointed an  agent  of  the  State  to  proceed  to  Washington,  for 
the  purpose  of  enforcing  her  rights.  There  was  a  disposition 
on  the  part  of  the  government  to  accept  the  award :  they 
were  embarrassed  by  the  controversy,  and  wished  to  have  it 
closed.  The  subject  was  long  agitated  in  executive  session 
of  the  Senate  ;  and  it  was  proposed,  that,  to  relieve  the 
government  and  save  the  honor  of  our  State,  Maine  should 
cede  the  territory  lying  north  and  east  of  the  line  of  demar- 
cation by  the  King  of  Holland,  to  the  United  States  for  an 
indemnity,  and  thus  enable  the  United  States  Government 
to  settle  the  matter  on  the  basis  of  the  award.  Commis- 
sioners were  appointed  l3y  Maine  in  1832  to  negotiate  with 
the  United  States  on  the  sul)ject :  these  consisted  of  Judge 
Preble,  Reuel  Williams,  and  Nicholas  Emery.  Under  this 
appointment,  an  agreement  was  entered  into  between  the 
commissioners  and  the  agents  of  the  United  States  in  July, 
1832,  by  which  Maine  was  to  cede  to  the  United  States  tho 
jurisdiction  and  territory  of  the  land  in  controversy,  and  to 

89 


602     WM.  r.  PREBLE :  Atlantic  &  st.  Lawrence  r.  r. 

receive  a  grant  of  a  million  acres  of  land  in  Michigan.  In 
the  meantime,  renewed  negotiations  were  opened  with 
Great  Britain  for  the  establishment  of  the  line  upon  the 
basis  of  the  treaty  of  1783.  These  were  protracted  ;  irrita- 
tion increased  to  exasperation  on  both  sides  of  the  line, 
until  it  broke  out  in  what  was  called  the  Aroostook  War 
in  1839 :  the  difficulty  was  not  finally  settled  until  the 
English  government,  in  1841,  sent  over  Lord  Ashburton 
with  full  powers  to  adjust  by  compromise  or  otherwise  the 
vexed  question :  this  resulted  in  the  Webster- Ashburton 
treaty  of  August,  1842,  and  the  establishment  of  a  conven- 
tional line ;  for  which  the  British  government  paid  an 
equivalent  money  consideration.  Judge  Preble's  agency  in 
this  difficult  and  perplexing  question  did  not  terminate 
imtil  the  controversy  was  thus  closed :  his  last  act  in  it  was 
as  one  of  four  commissioners  chosen  by  the  Legislature  in 
1842,  to  adjust  the  terms  of  settlement  with  this  State. 
This  was  his  last  political  act. 

In  1844,  Judge  Preble  engaged  with  youthful  ardor  in  a 
great  work,  which  he  considered  one  of  the  most  important 
of  his  life  :  this  was  the  grand  project  which  was  to  connect 
by  railway  the  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence  and  the  Great 
Lakes  with  the  sea  at  Portland.  Those  who  enjoy  or 
observe  the  advantages  which  that  magnificent  work  is  now 
conferring  upon  the  two  countries  which  it  connects,  can 
have  no  conception  of  the  toil,  the  care,  the  exhausting 
efforts  which  were  required  to  give  it  motion  and  continue  its 
progress.  After  the  completion  of  the  railroad  to  Ports- 
mouth from  Portland  in  1842,  public  attention  was  called 
to  similar  improvements  which  should  affi)rd  facilities  for 
transportation  from  the  interior  to  the  seaboard  at  Portland. 
Incipient  measures  were  taken  to  explore  routes  to  the 
northward  and  westward,  and  communications  a})pcared  in 
the  papers,  showing  the  advantages  and  feasibility  of  a  rail- 


WM.  P.  PREBLE  :   ATLANTIC  &  ST.  LAWRENCE   R.  R.        603 

road  extending  in  that  direction  to  the  St.  Lawrence.     In 
September,   1844,   a    very   large    and   enthusiastic   public 
meeting  was  held  in  Portland  on  the  subject,  which  re- 
sulted in  the  appointment  of  Judge  Preble  and  Josiah  S. 
Little  as  a  committee  to  proceed  to  Montreal  to  procure,  if 
possible,  the  concurrence  and  aid  of  the  government  and 
people  of  Canada  to  open  between  the  two  countries  an 
international   highway.     They   made   their  report  on   the 
eighteenth  of  October,  to  a  very  large  public  meeting  in 
Portland,  giving  a  favorable  account  of   their   reception, 
and  of  the  encouragement  tendered  to  the  project.     This 
was  followed  up  by  a  reconnoisancc  of  a  route  by  James 
Hall,  an  engineer,  and  a  charter  for  a  company,  styled 
the   Atlantic    and    St.    Lawrence    Company,    which    was 
incorporated  February  10,  1845,  with  a  capital  of  three 
millions   of    dollars.      While  this  bill   was   being   carried 
through  the  Legislature,  John  A.  Poor  proceeded  to  Mon- 
treal, to  stir  up  the  public  mind  there,  and  was  followed  by 
Judge  Preble  on  the  twelfth  of  February,  with  the  charter, 
in  the  depth  of  winter,  by  express  teams,  through  untried 
paths    of   wilderness    and  forests.      These    extraordinary 
efforts  were  deemed  necessary,  because  of  incessant  exer- 
tions and  misrepresentations  of  persons  interested  in  rival 
routes,  having  their    termini    in    Massachusetts.      These 
movements  of  the  committee  were  conducted  with  great 
skill,  and  were  crowned  with  entire  success.     A  charter  was 
granted  by  tlic  Canadian  Government  to  a  company,  for  a 
connecting  road  dated  March  18,  1845,  with   a  copy   of 
which  Judge  Preble  and  Mr.  Poor  returned  to  Portland. 

In  June,  subscription  books  were  opened  for  the  stock, 
and  on  the  first  of  September,  it  was  announced  that  the 
sum  requisite  for  organization  was  subscribed.  On  the 
twenty-fifth  of  September,  the  shareholders,  representing 
six  hundred  and  twelve   thousand  five  hundred   dollars, 


GO-1       WM.  p.  PREBLE  :   ATLANTIC  &  ST.  LAWRENCE  R.  R. 

assembled  at  the  City  Hall  in  Portland,  and  organized  the 
company.  Judge  Preble  was  unanimously  chosen  presi- 
dent. 

On  the  thirtieth  of  November,  1845,  Judge  Preble  sailed 
for  England  to  advocate  the  interests  of  the  company. 
There  he  had  to  encounter  the  same  malign  influences 
■which  he  had  met  in  Canada.  Emissaries  were  in  London 
to  create  a  prejudice  against  the  route  to  Portland,  and  to 
divert  it  to  Boston  ;  incredible  efforts  were  made  for  this 
purpose  ;  and  it  was  with  great  difficulty  that  Judge  Preble 
could  get  a  hearing.  The  minds  of  leading  men  there  had 
been  prejudiced  by  misrepresentations,  which  it  required 
the  presentation  of  solid  facts  and  able  argument  to  refute 
and  remove.  In  this  mission,  he  was  greatly  assisted  by  Mr. 
Gait,  the  able  representative  of  the  Canadian  road,  and 
their  exertions  were  partially  successful.  He  returned  in 
February,  1846,  and  the  next  movement  in  this  grand 
enterprise  was  to  settle  the  terms  of  union  with  the  Canada 
company.  This  was  accomplished  to  mutual  satisfaction  in 
April,  by  which  a  uniform  gauge  of  five  feet  six  inches  was 
agreed  upon,  together  with  the  points  of  termination  of  the 
two  roads,  the  place  of  junction,  and  other  conditions 
necessary  for  a  harmonious  and  united  action  of  the  two 
companies.  The  convention  was  signed  by  George  Moffatt, 
Augustin  N.  Morin,  and  Samuel  Brookes,  on  behalf  of  the 
Canada  Company  ;  and  by  William  P.  Preble,  John  Musscy, 
and  John  B.  Brown  for  the  American  Company  ;  and  con- 
stituted the  basis  of  their  mutual  action. 

Proposals  were  now  issued  for  contracts,  wliich  were 
closed  on  the  first  of  July,  184G,  and  on  the  fourth  of  July, 
ground  was  broken  at  Fish  Point  in  Portland  harbor,  amidst 
an  immense  assemblage  of  persons,  who  filled  the  air  with 
shouts  of  gratulation  as  Judge  Preble  threw  out  the  lirst 
spadeful  of  earth  to  inaugurate  the  work  which  was  thence- 


WM.  P.  PREBLE  :    ATLANTIC  &  ST.  LAWRENCE   R.  R.        605 

forward  to  go  on  to  a  liappy  and  successful  consum- 
mation. He  accompanied  liis  act  by  words  well  suited  to 
its  importance.  In  the  evening',  there  was  a  beautiful 
display  of  fireworks,  in  honor  of  the  occasion. 

Among  the  papers  wliich  Judge  Preble  wrote  in  connec- 
tion with  his  services  for  the  railroad,  were,  "  An  Address 
to  the  Citizens  of  Montreal,"  in  1845  ;  "  An  Address  to  Mr. 
Gladstone,  the  English  Colonial  Secretary,"  1846,  and  "  A 
Memorial  to  the  Governor  General  of  Canada,"  in  1847 ; 
all  able  state  papers. 

Judge  Preble,  in  his  report  to  the  shareholders,  July  22, 
1848,  remarks,  "It  is  now  just  two  years  since  the  first 
shovelful  of  earth  was  moved  in  the  ceremony  of  breaking 
ground.  You  will  remember  that  the  first  twelve  miles  of 
our  road,  including  the  depot  grounds,  extending  into  the 
deep  waters  of  Portland  harbor,  present  more  obstacles 
to  be  overcome,  and  require  a  greater  outlay  by  nearly  a 
hundred  per  cent.,  than  any  other  like  number  of  consecu- 
tive miles  of  the  road  between  Portland  and  the  Canada 
line.  These  obstacles,  however,  have  been  overcome,  and 
your  road  is  now  in  successful  operation  to  the  town  of 
North  Yarmouth."  He  states  that  the  road  was  in  good 
advancement  to  Minot,  thirty-six  miles  from  Portland,  and 
would  be  opened  in  the  fall.  He  then  gives  the  following 
sketch  of  the  features  of  the  road  :  "  As  we  pass  on  north- 
erly from  Portland,  we  gradually  ascend  a  gently  inclined 
plane,  about  one  hundred  miles  in  length,  attaining  at  its 
northern  termination  an  elevation  of  eleven  hundred  and 
fifteen  feet  above  the  tide  waters  of  Portland  harbor : 
thence  by  an  almost  imperceptible  descent,  we  fall  into  the 
valley  of  the  Connecticut,  losing  in  a  distance  of  some 
twenty  odd  miles  about  two  hundred  feet  only  of  elevation, 
where  we  reach  the  l)ank  of  the  main  stream.  Strictly 
speaking,  with  this  single  exception,  we  pass  in  our  whole 


COG        WM.  p.  PREBLE  :    ATLANTIC  &  ST.  LAWKENCE   R.  R. 

course,  no  dividing  ridge  separating  waters  flowing  in  dif- 
ferent directions." 

With  this  report,  Judge  Preble's  connection  witli  the 
raih'oad  ceased :  the  great  exertions  he  had  made,  and  the 
exposure  he  had  endured,  in  the  inception  and  progress  of 
this  grand  enterprise,  had  broken  down  his  health,  and  he 
found  that  he  needed  repose  from  all  active  employment ; 
he  therefore  retired  to  private  life,  still  retaining  a  deep 
interest  in  the  prosperity  of  an  improvement  which  he  had 
effectually  labored  to  accomplish.  He  made  frequent  and 
urgent  appeals  through  the  newspapers  to  arouse  the  public 
mind  to  the  importance  of  the  undertaking,  and  to  induce 
the  people  to  come  forward  to  aid  the  work  ;  and  he  lived 
to  see  it  fully  achieved,  and  bearing  tlie  fruits  of  a  large 
and  successful  o])eration,  extending  from  the  Atlantic 
Ocean  at  Portland  eleven  hundred  miles,  passing  on  the 
northern  shores  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  of  Lake  Ontario,  of 
Lake  Erie,  to  the  far  off  Lake  of  the  Hurons. 

The  road  was  opened  to  South  Paris,  January  1,  1850, 
and  to  Island  Pond,  its  point  of  connection,  early  in  1852  ; 
and  the  whole  line  to  the  St.  Lawrence  was  completed 
early  in  1853.  Mr.  Little,  the  president  of  the  road,  in  a 
report  in  March,  1855,  observed,  "The  act  incorporating  the 
Atlantic  and  St.  Lawrence  Railroad  Company  was  approved 
by  the  governor,  February  10,  1845.  At  that  time,  not  a 
dollar  of  capital  had  been  raised,  or  pledged,  for  the  prose- 
cution of  the  enterprise ;  nor  had  a  spade  been  put  into  the 
ground  on  account  of  it.  Now,  we  have  more  than  four 
hundred  miles  of  railroad  in  actual  and  successful  opera- 
tion, connecting  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  Ocean  at 
Portland,  with  the  waters  of  the  St.  Lawrence  at  Montreal, 
and  also  at  Quebec.  Add  to  this,  that  in  tliis  wliole 
distance  of  continuous  rail,  there  is  no  gradient  in  eitiier 
direction,  exceeding  sixty  feet  to  the  mile,  even  for  the 
shortest  space." 


WILLIAM   P.   PREBLE  :   SEPARATION   OF  MAINE.  607 

Judge  Preble  was  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  influen- 
tial politicians  of  the  State.  He  began  life  as  a  zealous 
federalist ;  but  with  many  other  active  and  intelligent  young 
men,  Holmes,  Parris,  "Ware,  and  others,  previous  to  the  sep- 
aration from  Massachusetts,  he  veered  into  the  democratic 
ranks,  and  ])ecame  as  ardent  on  that  side  of  the  question 
as  he  had  before  been  opposed  to  it.  He  advocated  the 
cause  of  his  new  friends  with  the  zeal  and  ability  which 
characterized  all  his  other  efforts,  and  sustained  the  cause 
of  the  national  administration  by  an  efiicient  service,  which 
made  him  a  successful  candidate  for  the  office  of  attorney 
of  the  United  States  for  the  district  of  Maine,  to  which  he 
was  appointed  in  1814,  when  but  three  years  in  practice. 
His  political  efforts  were  especially  directed  to  effect  a 
separation  of  Maine  from  Massachusetts ;  and  no  person 
labored  more  ardently  and  effectually  to  accomplish  that 
object  than  he  did.  The  attention  of  leading  men  had 
been  devoted  to  this  subject  from  time  to  time,  ever  since 
the  peace  of  1783 ;  and  conventions  had  been  held  to  pro- 
mote the  object.  The  people  were  nearly  equally  divided 
on  the  subject,  and  in  the  last  movements  it  had  become  a 
party  question.  The  old  commonwealth  was  strongly  fed- 
eral, while  Maine  was  democratic ;  consequently  the  federal 
party  bore  sway  :  it  was  the  policy,  therefore,  of  the  demo- 
cratic party,  to  establish  a  separate  government,  that  they 
might  iiave  the  benefit  of  official  patronage.  There  were 
many  men,  however,  independent  of  party,  who  believed 
the  affairs  and  interests  of  the  district  would  be  better 
managed  by  a  local  government  than  by  the  more  remote 
one  in  Massachusetts ;  and  these  cast  their  influence  into 
the  scale  of  the  friends  of  separation.  During  the  session 
of  the  Legislature  in  181G,  numerous  petitions  were  pre- 
sented to  that  body,  praying  for  the  separation,  which  were 
referred  to  a  committee,   who  reported    in  February,  rcc- 


608  WILLIAM   P.   PREBLE:   SEPARATION   OP   MAINE. 

ommeudiiig  that  the  question  be  submitted  to  the  people. 
The  act  ou  the  subject  was  not  passed  until  the  June 
session :  in  this,  the  terms  on  which  the  separation  was  to 
take  place  were  specifically  set  forth.  Among  the  condi- 
tions was  that  determining  the  majority  required :  the 
inhabitants  of  the  towns  in  the  district  were  to  assemble  on 
the  first  Monday  in  September  then  next,  to  give  their 
votes  on  the  question,  wliether  it  is  expedient  to  form  the 
district  into  an  independent  State,  which  votes  were  to  be 
returned  to  a  convention,  to  assemble  on  the  last  Monday  of 
the  same  September,  delegates  to  which  were  to  be  chosen 
at  the  same  time  that  the  vote  was  taken.  The  act  proceeds 
to  say,  "  If  it  shall  appear  that  a  majority  of  five  to  four, 
at  least,  of  the  votes  so  returned,  are  in  favor  of  separation, 
the  convention  is  to  proceed  in  forming  a  constitution,  and 
not  otherwise."  During  the  intervening  time,  the  discus- 
sion was  very  animated.  Judge  Preble  wrote  strongly  and 
earnestly  in  favor  of  the  measure  ;  the  papers  in  Massachu- 
setts, as  well  as  those  in  Maine,  entered  zealously  into  the 
conflict ;  for  it  cannot  be  disguised  that  the  old  Common- 
wealth was  very  reluctant  to  lose  so  valuable  an  appendage 
to  her  sovereignty,  her  territory,  and  her  political  rank  in 
the  Union.  The  vote  of  Saco  was  two  hundred  and  fifteen 
for  separation,  and  sixteen  against  it,  and  Mr.  Preble  was 
elected  one  of  the  delegates.  But  the  vote  of  the  county 
was  not  so  decisive ;  there  were  one  thousand  seven  hund- 
red and  twelve  in  the  negative.  Wells  and  Lyman,  strong 
federal  towns,  gave  large  majorities  against  separation,  viz., 
"Wells  three  hundred  and  seventy-four  to  forty-seven, 
Lyman  one  hundred  and  seventy-nine  to  six.  The  federal 
towns  were  generally  opposed  to  the  measure,  but  Lincoln 
and  Hancock  Counties  were  the  only  ones  which  gave  a 
majority  of  votes  in  opposition :  Hancock  stood  four  luind- 
red  and  seven  for,  and  one  thousand  two  hundred  and  fifty- 


WILLIAM   P.   PREBLE:   SEPARATION   OP  MAINE.  609 

seven  against,  separation;  and  Lincoln,  one  thousand  seven 

hundred  and  fifty-two  in  favor,  and  two  thousand  three 

hundred  and  fifty-seven  against  it.    The  whole  vote  was 

nearly  divided,  and  was  eleven  thousand  nine  hundred  and 

twenty-seven  in   the    affirmative,   and    ten  thousand  five 

hundred  and  thirty-nine   in   the   negative  :   evidently,   the 

measure  was  not  carried,  and  the  convention  met  under 

this  disheartening  cloud.     But  the  mind  of  Judge  Preble 

was  fruitful  in  expedients,  and  with  more  casuistry  than 

force  of  logic,  he  endeavored  to  show  that  the  five-ninths 

majority  had  been  obtained.     John  Holmes  was  chairman 

of  the  committee  to  examine  ihe  votes,  and  submitted  the 

report,  which  is  understood  to  have  been  drawn  by  Judge 

Preble,  and  came  to  the  result  that  the  requisite  majority 

had  been  obtained.     We  quote  the  following  passage,  as  a 

specimen  of  the  ingenuity  of  the  report.     "  By  recurring 

to  the  second  and  third  sections  of  the  act  concel'uing  the 

separation   of  the  District  of  Maine   from   Massachusetts 

proper,  and  forming  the  same  into  an  independent  State,  we 

find  that  the  convention  is  authorized  to  form  a  constitution, 

provided  a  majority  of  five  to  four,  at  least,  of  the  votes 

returned,   are   in  favor  of   the    measure.      Tlie    meaning 

of  the  word  majority  is  doubtful.     This  word  is  sometimes 

understood  to  mean  the  excess  of  one  number  over  another, 

and  sometimes    the    excess   of  half   the   whole   number. 

Exclude  the  words  '  a  majority  of  in  the  second  and  third 

sections  of  the  act,  and  no  doubt  remains  but  five  yeas  to 

four  nays,  or  five-ninths  of  the  votes  returned,  would  be 

required.     But  your  committee  do  not  feel  authorized  to 

say  that  these  words  have  no  meaning."     "  In  the  report  of 

the  committee  prefixed  to  the  act,  it  appears  to  have  been 

the  intention,   that  the   expediency   of   separation   should 

have  been  decided  by  an  assembly  of  men,  charged  with 

the  most  solemn  duties,  moaning,  no  doubt,  a  convention  of 


610  WILLIAM   P.   PREBLE  :   SEPARATION   OF  MAINE. 

delegates  chosen  by  toivns.  Here  the  delegates  would  have 
been  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  majorities  in  each  cor- 
poration, and  not  in  the  aggregate  majority  of  all  the  votes 
returned."  It  then  draws  the  following  conclusion  :  "  As 
the  delegates  must  be  apportioned  according  to  the  respec- 
tive majorities  of  their  towns,  so  on  the  question  of  separa- 
tion, the  majority  of  yeas  in  the  towns  and  plantations  in 
favor  must  be  to  the  majority  of  luiys  in  those  opposed,  as 
five  to  four  of  the  votes  returned.  *  *  *  Xn  this  way 
only  can  your  committee  give  a  meaning  to  the  word 
majority  as  contained  in  the  second  and  third  sections  of 
the  act." 

After  having  rejected  the  votes  of  Lyman,  which,  as  wo 
have  seen,  were  one  hundred  and  seventy-three  majority 
against  separation,  because  the  meeting  called  to  have  tlie 
house  polled  before  voting,  the  committee  thus  state  their 
sum: 

Whole  number  of  votes,  22,316. 

The  yeas  are,  11,969. 

The  nays  are,  10,347. 

The  whole  aggregate  majority  of  yeas  in  the  towns  and 
plantations  is  six  thousand  and  thirty-one.  Tlie  whole  ag- 
gregate majority  of  nays  in  the  towns  and  plantations  op- 
posed is  four  thousand  four  hundred  and  nine.  Then,  as 
five  is  to  four,  so  is  six  thousand  and  thirty-one  to  four 
thousand  eight  hundred  and  twenty-five,  the  nays  required, 
but  the  majority  of  nays  is  four  thousand  four  hundred  and 
nine  only.  Hence  it  appears  that  upon  this  construction  of 
the  act,  there  is  a  majority  of  five  to  four,  at  least,  of  the 
votes  returned,  in  favor  of  said  District's  becoming  an  in- 
dependent State." 

So  earnest  was  the  majority  of  the  convention  to  ac3om- 
})lish  the  work  which  they  had  assembled  to  do,  that  they 
adopted  the  report  of  the   committee,  and  proceeded  to 


WILLIAM   P.   PREBLE:   SEPARATION   OP  MAINE.  611 

perform  the  other  duties  consequent  upon  the  act.  But 
the  minority,  consisting  of  seventy-one  members,  among 
whom  were  some  of  the  most  honored  names  in  the  District, 
were  not  convinced  by  this  ingenious  ciphering,  and  al- 
though some  of  them  were  favorable  to  separation,  they 
entered  into  a  solemn  protest  against  the  report,  its  reason- 
ing, and  its  principles,  and  against  further  proceeding  on 
the  subject.  Judge  Stebbins  of  Alna  presented  the  protest, 
which  is  supposed  to  have  been  drawn  by  him.  After 
stating  the  facts  which  show,  by  a  reasonable  construction, 
that  the  requisite  majority  had  not  been  obtained,  it  says  : 
"  Nothing,  therefore,  remains  to  be  done  by  tlie  convention. 
The  only  duty  in  this  event,  assigned  to  them  by  the  Legis- 
lature and  their  constituents,  here  terminates.  The  exer- 
cise of  further  powers  by  this  convention  we  are  constrained 
to  consider  as  usurpation.  To  proceed  to  form  a  constitu- 
tion, is,  in  our  view,  at  once  a  violation  of  express  law,  and 
an  invasion  of  the  rights  of  our  constituents." 

Tiie  Legislature  of  Massachusetts  took  the  same  view  of 
the  law  and  the  powers  of  the  convention  which  the  pro- 
testors did,  and  declined  proceeding  further  in  the  matter. 
So  this  attempt,  like  former  ones,  failed  from  a  sufficient 
unanimity  of  the  people  in  accomplishing  the  object. 

Judge  Preble  and  Messrs.  Holmes  of  Alfred  and  Davis 
of  Augusta  were  appointed  a  committee  to  publish  an  ad- 
dress in  answer  to  the  protest.  Judge  Preble  was  also  one 
of  the  committee  to  make  application  to  the  Legislature  of 
Massachusetts  to  carry  into  effect  the  act  of  separation. 

This  latter  committee  presented  a  memorial  to  the  Legis- 
lature which  held  a  session  in  November,  181(3 ;  and  it  was 
referred  to  an  able  committee,  on  which  were  Messrs.  Otis, 
Pickman,  and  Pickering.  Numerous  remonstrances  were 
also  presented  against  separation  from  different  parts  of 
Maine,  as  were,  also,  petitions  for  it.     The  committee  made 


612  WILLIAM  P.   PREBLE. 

a  long  report  adverse  to  the  application,  accompanied  by- 
two  resolutions  :  one  was,  that  the  contingency  upon  which 
consent  was  given  to  the  separation  had  not  happened,  and 
that  the  powers  of  the  Brunswick  Convention  have  ceased  ; 
second,  that  it  was  not  expedient  for  the  present  General 
Court  to  adopt  any  further  measures  in  regard  to  the  separ- 
ation. The  report  and  resolves  were  adopted.  After  this, 
the  subject  of  payment  to  the  members  of  the  convention 
for  their  travel  and  attendance  was  introduced  and  referred : 
the  committee  reported  that  it  was  not  expedient  to  take 
any  action  on  the  subject ;  and  thus,  for  that  time,  the 
movement  for  a  separation  was  suspended,  only  to  be  re- 
vived with  new  ardor  the  following  year,  with  a  successful 
result. 

In  the  convention  of  1819,  which  prepared  the  constitu- 
tion, Mr.  Preble  was  a  delegate  from  Portland,  where  he 
then  resided,  and  took  part  in  the  debates,  especially  on  the 
subject  of  apportionment  of  senators  and  representatives, 
in  which  his  mathematical  talent  was  again  invoked.  He 
was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  the  name  of  the  State. 
Of  the  seven  delegates  from  Portland,  he  and  Judge  Parris 
only  signed  the  constitution :  the  other  five  declined  signing 
it,  because  they  believed  the  apportionment  of  representa- 
tives to  have  been  unequal  and  unjust  to  Portland  and 
other  large  towns. 

In  1820,  Judge  Preble  was  chosen  one  of  the  trustees  of 
Bowdoin  College,  the  duties  of  which  he  promptly  dis- 
charged for  twenty-two  years,  until  his  resignation  in  1842. 
In  1829,  the  college  bestowed  upon  him  the  honorary  degree 
of  LL.  D. 

Judge  Preble  was  twice  married  :  his  first  wife,  to  whom 
he  was  united  in  September,  1810,  while  he  was  a  tutor  at 
Camljridgc,  was  Nancy  Gale  Tucker,  the  second  daughter 
of  Joseph  Tucker  of  York,  who  was  at  one  time  the  collec- 


WILLIAM   P.   PREBLE.  SIS' 

tor  of  that  port.  Her  only  sister,  Mary  Ann,  married,  the 
same  year,  Louis  A.  DcCreney,  a  French  gentleman,  con- 
nected with  a  considerable  family  in  France.  ^  By  this  mar- 
riage. Judge  Preble  had  two  daughters  and  one  son  :  the 
son  bears  the  same  name  with  himself,  and  now  resides  in 
Portland,  and  is  Clerk  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United 
States.  The  eldest  daughter  married  Stephen  Longfellow, 
Jr.,  a  lawyer  in  Portland  ;  the  youngest  married  Lieut. 
Allen  of  the  United  States  Army.  Mr.  Preble's  second 
wife  was  Sarah  A.  Forsaith,  a  daughter  of  the  late  Thomas 
Forsaith  of  Portland,  by  whom  he  had  one  son,  who  with 
his  mother  survives. 

The  constitution  of  Judge  Preble,  considerably  shattered 
by  hard  use,  at  last  gave  way,  and  he  closed  his  busy, 
unquiet  life  October  11,  1867,  at  the  age  of  seventy- 
three.  The  following  summary  of  his  cliaracter  was 
furnished  by  John  A.  Poor,  in  an  obituary  notice,  which 
appeared  in  a  Portland  paper  soon  after  Mr.  Preble's 
death,  — "  All  his  published  writings  display  the  most 
marked  exhibition  of  labor  and  care  of  preparation.  He 
never  allowed  anything  from  his  pen  to  appear  without  sub- 
jecting it  to  the  most  elaborate  preparation.  But  little, 
however,  remains  that  will  serve  as  an  enduring  record  of 
his  labors.  His  reported  opinions  as  a  judge  do  not  give 
any  adequate  idea  of  his  power  as  a  lawyer.  He  had  a 
reputation  for  intellectual  power  far  beyond  any  measure  of 
success  that  he  obtained  ;  and  those  who  knew  liim  best, 
were  aware  of  his  peculiarities  of  temperament  and  of 
temper  tliat  were  drawbacks  to  popular  favor.  He  appeared 
to  best  advantage  in  the  oral  argument  of  legal  questions. 
He  stated  his  propositions  with  a  clearness  and  force  rarely 

1  Mr.  DeCreney  died  in  1818,  his  widow  in  1836 ;  having  had  three  sons 
and  one  daughter  :  the  daughter  married  Henry  C.  Lovell  of  Portland,  and 
is  dead  :  one  son  is  living  in  Portland,  another  in  France. 


614  "WILLIAM   P.    PREBLE:    SAMUEL  E.    SMITH. 

equalled.  When  all  his  faculties  were  raised  into  activity 
by  the  excitement  of  a  great  occasion,  his  mind  worked 
with  the  greatest  ease,  and  he  was  capable  on  such  occa- 
sions of  bringing  out  an  argument,  that  by  its  strength  of 
reasoning,  force  of  illustration,  and  eifective  eloquence,  gave 
him  the  mastery  over  others." 

SAMUEL    EMERSON     SIMITII.      1812  —  18G0. 

Samuel  Emerson  Smith  died  at  Wiscasset,  March  3, 1860, 
aged  within  nine  days  of  seventy-two.  He  was  the  seventh 
child  and  third  son  of  Manasseh  Smith,  a  native  of  Leo- 
minster, Massachusetts,  and  Hannah  Emerson,  a  daughter 
of  Daniel  Emerson  of  HoUis,  New  Hampshire,  at  which 
place  he  was  born,  March  12,  1788.  His  father  was  born 
in  1719,  a  graduate  of  Harvard  College  in  the  class  of 
1773,  and  was  for  a  while  a  chaplain  in  the  army :  he  after- 
wards pursued  the  practice  of  law  in  Leominster  and 
HoUis,  and  subsequently  at  Wiscasset  in  Maine,  to  which 
place  he  moved  in  1788.  Before  this  time,  he  had  been 
clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  Massachusetts.  He  died  in 
1823.  A  more  full  account  of  him  is  given  in  preceding 
pages  of  this  work. 

We  may  infer  that  Manasseh  Smith,  the  father,  was 
entirely  satisfied  with  the  college  in  which  he  was  himself 
educated,  and  the  profession  which  gave  him  his  living,  by 
the  fact  that  his  four  sons  were  graduates  of  Harvard,  and 
became  lawyers.  Manasseh,  the  eldest,  Harvard  College, 
1800,  established  himself  at  Warren,  where  he  died  a 
prominent  citizen  in  1822 ;  Joseph  E.,  Harvard  College, 
1804,  long  a  respected  lawyer  in  Boston,  and  died  there  in 
1837  ;  Edwin,  the  only  survivor.  Harvard  College,  1811,  is 
still  living  in  Warren. 

Samuel,  with  whom  wc  have  now  to  do,  pursued  his 


SAMUEL   E.    SMITH.  615 

preparatory  studies  at  Groton  Academy,  and  received  his 
degree  at  Harvard  in  1808,  iu  the  class  with  Rev.  Ralph 
Sanger,  recently  deceased,  Benjamin  Rand,  the  distin- 
guished lawyer  of  Boston,  and  other  prominent  men.  He 
studied  his  profession,  partly  with  Samuel  Dana  of  Groton, 
and  partly  with  his  brothers,  Manasseii  and  Joseph  ;  and 
was  admitted  to  the  Suffolk  Bar,  February  25,  1812.  The 
same  year,  he  established  himself  in  practice  at  Wiscasset. 

Mr.  Smith  early  took  a  prominent  position  at  the  bar,  as 
a  sound  and  discriminating  lawyer.  His  mind  was  clear 
and  acute :  he  had  disciplined  it  well  in  mathematics  and 
metaphysics,  studies  which  he  cherished  and  pursued 
through  life,  and  devotion  to  which  was  the  act  of  his  last 
hour :  he  left  his  study  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  after 
having  been  several  hours  engaged  in  solving  a  problem 
in  algebra,  and  an  hour  later  he  had  ceased  to  breathe. 

He  also  engaged  earnestly  in  politics  :  his  father  and  all 
the  members  of  his  family  were  zealous  adherents  to  the 
old  democratic  party,  and  he  was  early  brought  into  public 
life.  In  1819,  the  last  year  of  our  connection  with  Massa- 
chusetts, he  was  elected  a  representative  from  Wiscasset  to 
the  General  Court,  and  the  next  year  to  the  Legislature  of 
Maine.  On  the  separation  of  the  State  from  the  old  com- 
monwealth, he  was  removed  from  the  sphere  of  political 
action  by  his  appointment,  in  1821,  as  chief  justice  of  the 
Circuit  Court  of  Common  Pleas  for  the  second  circuit,  as 
successor  of  Judge  Weston,  who  had  been  raised  by  the 
new  government  to  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court.  He  had  then  been  but  nine  years  at  the  bar,  and 
there  were  in  his  circuit  much  older  })ractitioners ;  as 
Stcbbins,  Ames,  Allen,  Wheeler,  Bridge,  Fuller,  Williams, 
Bond,  Cutler,  Belcher,  cfcc.  In  the  reorganization  of  this 
court  in  1822,  by  which  the  circuit  system  was  abolished, 
he  was  appointed  an  associate  judge  of  the  new  court,  with 


616  SAMUEL   E.    SMITH. 

Ezekiel  Whitman  as  chief  justice.  He  continued  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  this  office  with  great  fidelity,  intelli- 
gence, and  to  iiublic  acceptance,  until  1830  ;  when,  having 
been  elected  governor  of  Maine,  he  resigned  it.  The 
decisions  of  Judge  Smith  were  impartial  and  wise  ;  and  I 
have  heard  it  said  by  competent  authority  that  his  judg- 
ments were  rarely  overruled  by  the  ultimate  tribunal. 

He  held  the  office  of  governor,  by  annual  elections,  three 
years, — 1831,  1832,  and  1833.  During  his  administration, 
the  public  mind  was  greatly  excited  on  the  subject  of  the 
northeastern  boundary.  The  question  in  controversy,  after 
inefifcctual  negotiation,  had  been  submitted  to  the  King  of 
the  Netherlands.  Our  fellow  citizen.  Judge  Preble,  had 
been  sent  by  the  general  government  to  the  Hague  to  man- 
age the  cause.  That  umpire,  in  January,  1831,  rendered 
his  award  ;  and,  instead  of  determining  the  question  sub- 
mitted to  him,  viz.,  what  was  the  true  boundary  line  by  a 
fair  construction  of  the  treaty  of  1783,  determined  that  the 
line  ought  to  extend  north  from  the  source  of  the  St.  Croix 
River  to  the  middle  of  the  channel  of  the  St.  John  River, 
thence  up  that  river  to  the  St.  Francis,  and  through  the 
middle  of  that  river  to  the  source  of  its  southwest  branch. 
This  singular  departure  from  the  terms  of  the  submission , 
and  the  plain  language  of  the  treaty,  which  placed  the  line 
upon  a  ridge  of  highlands  and  not  in  the  bed  of  a  river, 
gave  just  indignation  to  the  people  of  this  State,  and  led  to 
an  entire  repudiation  of  the  award. 

A  long  correspondence  and  discussion  took  place  on  the 
subject  l)ctween  the  executive  of  this  State  and  the  author- 
ities in  Washington,  in  which  were  distinguished  Governor 
Smith,  and  our  fellow  citizens, —  Judge  Preble,  John  G. 
Deane,  Charles  S.  Daveis,  Governor  Evans,  and  Governor 
Kent.  The  United  States  Government  was  desirous  of 
having  the  award  accepted,  and  was  willing  to  conciliate 


SAMUEL   E.    SMITH.  617 

Maine  by  an  equivalent  in  money  or  land  for  tlieir  loss  of 
territory.  Much  historical  research  and  ability  were  dis- 
played on  the  part  of  the  persons  in  Maine  who  warmly 
engaged  in  the  discussion.  The  messages  and  communica- 
tions of  Governor  Smith  were  sound  and  judicious,  and 
met  with  public  approbation.  The  agitating  and  unpleasant 
controversy  was  not  finally  arranged  until  1842,  when  Maine, 
through  her  commissioners,  assented  to  a  conventional  line, 
established  by  the  Ashburton  treaty,  yielding  a  large  portion 
of  territory,  for  which  she  received  an  inconsiderable 
remuneration :  the  treaty  provided  that  the  general  govern- 
ment should  satisfy  Maine  and  Massachusetts  for  the 
expenses  incurred  by  them  in  protecting  the  disputed 
territory,  and  making  a  survey  thereof,  and  to  pay  them 
the  further  sum  of  three  hundred  thousand  dollars  in 
equal  portions,  "  on  account  of  their  assent  to  the  line  of 
boundary." 

Another  measure  of  importance  occurred  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  Governor  Smith ;  that  was  the  removal  of  the 
seat  of   government    from    Portland    to    Augusta.      The 
Legislature  commenced  its   first   session   at  Augusta,  in 
January,  1832 :  on  which  occasion,  the  chief  magistrate,  in 
his  annual  message,  congratulated  the  people  "  upon  the 
possession  of  a  capitol,  which  is  an  ornament  to  the  State, 
and  in  beauty  of  materials  and  style  of  execution,  inferior 
to  no   building   for   a   similar   purpose  among   our  sister 
States."     The  building  and  furniture  cost  something  over 
one  hundred  and  twenty-five  thousand  dollars ;  but  to  raise 
this   sum   ten   townships   of  land  had  been  appropriated, 
seven  of  which  were  sold  for  forty-five  thousand  two  hund- 
red and  thirty  dollars,  sixty  cents,  or  an  average  price  of 
twenty-nine  and  a  half  cents  per  acre.     The  other  three 
sold  at  a  less  price  :  the  whole  fell    far  short  of  meeting 
the  expenditure,  or  even  the  estimate  of  its  cost  by  the 

40 


618  SAMUEL   E.    SMITH. 

architect,  Charles  Bulfiiich  of  Boston,  which  was  eighty 
thousand  dollars.  Mr.  Buliinch  was  the  architect  wlio 
planned  and  constructed  the  Boston  State  House,  having 
for  his  model  St.  Peter's  Church  at  Rome,  which  he  had 
visited.  Our  State  House  was  a  copy  of  that  of  Massachu- 
setts, on  a  smaller  scale. 

In  the  third  and  last  year  of  Governor  Smith's  adminis- 
tration, the  country  was  greatly  disturbed  by  the  nullification 
movements  of  South  Carolina,  and  agitations  concerning 
the  charter  of  the  United  States  bank,  and  a  modification 
of  the  tariff.  In  regard  to  the  .nullification,  the  governor 
took  firm  ground  in  support  of  the  national  executive.  In 
his  annual  message  of  1833,  he  says,  "  In  this  alarming 
crisis  of  our  national  affairs,  we  ;(cannot  but  rejoice  that 
the  executive  department  of  the  national  government, 
sustained,  as  it  is,  by  a  vast  majority  of  the  American 
people,  has  announced  its  determination  to  support  and 
carry  into  effect  the  constitution  and  laws  of  the  United 
States." 

At  the  expiration  of  his  third  term  of  office.  Governor 
Smith  returned  to  private  life  ;  but  in  1835,  his  services 
were  again  required  by  the  State,  and  he  was  restored 
to  the  bench  of  the  Common  Pleas.  He  continued  to  dis- 
charge the  duties  of  the  office  until  1837,  when  he  finally 
withdrew  from  the  bench.  In  October  of  the  same  year, 
he  was  appointed  with  Chief  Justice  Mellen  and  Ebenezer 
Everett,  Esq.,  one  of  the  commissioners  to  revise  and  codify 
the  public  laws :  the  first  edition  of  the  Revised  Statutes 
was  the  result  of  the  labors  of  this  commission. 

In  1832,  while  Governor  Smith  was  residing  in  Augusta 
as  chief  magistrate,  he  married  Louisa  Sophia,  a  daughter 
of  Henry  Weld  Fuller  of  that  city.  By  lier,  he  had  five 
sons,  who,  with  their  mother,  are  now  living. 

Governor   Smith   was   one   of   the   forty-nine   corporate 


f!S». 


■^•tN 


# 


.^g    :.. 


o 


SAMUEL    E.    SMITH  :   ETHER  SHEPLEY.  619 

members  of  the  Maine  Historical  Society,  of  whom,  after  a 
period  of  forty  years  from  its  organization,  ten  survive. 
Tlieir  names  are  worthy  to  be  placed  on.  record,  viz., 
William  Allen,  late  President  of  Bowdoin  College,  now 
living  at  Nortli  Hampton,  Massachusetts ;  Rev.  Jonathan 
Cogswell,  professor  in  a  college  of  New  York  ;  Robert  H. 
Gardiner  of  Gardiner ;  Dr.  Isaac  Lincoln  of  Brunswick ; 
Jacob  McGaw  of  Bangor ;  Judge  Sprague  of  Boston,  the 
youngest  of  the  number ;  Chief  Justice  Shepley  and  Judge 
Ware  of  Portland ;  the  Rev.  Benjamin  Tappan  and  Chief 
Justice  Weston  of  Augusta. 

The  remainder  of  Governor  Smith's  life  was  passed  in 
literary  ease  and  retirement,  and  in  the  enjoyment  of  an 
independent  estate.  And  it  closed  calmly,  and  without 
sickness  or  pain,  when  threescore  and  twelve  years  had 
been  nearly  completed.  He  was  a  genial,  pleasant  compan- 
ion, and  freely  commnicated  with  the  young,  as  well  as  old, 
from  the  ample  stores  of  his  richly  furnished  mind. 

ETHER    SHEPLEY.      1814  — 

Cliief  Justice  Shepley  was  the  second  son  of  John 
Shepley  of  Groton,  Massachusetts,  and  Mary,  widow  of 
Captain  Therlow  of  the  Revolutionary  army,  a  daughter  of 
Deacon  Gibson  of  Stowe  ;  was  born  in  Groton,  November 
2,  1789.  The  family  was  early  settled  in  Groton  ;  we  find 
it  there  as  early  as  1700,  in  which  year  a  son  of  John  and 
Lydia  Sheple,  as  the  name  was  written  all  through  that 
century,  was  born.  From  that  ancestor,  Judge  Shepley 
was  of  the  sixth  degree.  As  early  as  1G37,  a  John  Shepley, 
as  Farmer  informs  us,  was  in  Salem,  and  was  probably  the 
ancestor  of  the  John  who  established  himself  in  Groton. 
He  had  a  son  John  born  in  1G37,  and  moved  to  Chelmsford. 
The  family  always  'maintained  a  prominent  position  in  that 


620         ETHER  SHEPLEY:  JOHN  SHEPLEY. 

ancient  and  respectable  town,  which  contained  such  names 
as  Ames,  Bancroft,  Farwcll,  Fiske,  Lawrence,  Prescott, 
Parker,  Sawtelle.  In  the  History  of  Groton,  Captain  John 
Sheple,  the  ancestor  above  named,  appears  to  have  been  a 
representative  to  the  General  Court  six  years,  between  1716 
and  1728  :  in  1718,  we  find  his  name  as  one  of  the  select- 
men of  the  town.  His  son,  Jonathan,  was  town  clerk  in 
1730,  and  from  1734  to  1744.  Joseph,  another  member 
of  the  family,  in  1773,  was  on  a  committee  with  Oliver 
Prescott,  Amos  Lawrence,  and  others,  to  consider  the 
grievances  under  which  the  colony  was  laboring  by  an 
infringement  of  their  rights  and  liberties,  and  to  instruct 
their  representative.  He  was  also  a  member  of  the  con- 
vention of  1788,  for  adopting  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States,  and,  with  his  colleague,  opposed  it.  In  Worcester 
County,  there  was  a  very  strong  opposition  to  the  constitu- 
tion :  of  its  fifty  delegates,  forty-three  voted  against  it. 
Judge  Shepley's  father  was  an  only  son  of  John  and  Abigail 
(  Green  )  Sheple  ;  he  was  an  orderly  sergeant  and  clerk  of 
a  company  in  the  Revolution  ;  he  held  several  town  offices 
in  Groton,  was  a  farmer,  fond  of  reading,  and  a  man  of 
general  information.  He  had  three  sons :  John,  the  eldest, 
born  October  16,  1787;  Ether,  November  2,  1780;  and 
Stephen,  in  1791.  John  is  remembered  as  reporter  of  the 
decisions  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Maine  for  many  years, 
contained  in  volumes  thirteen  to  thirty-one,  from  1836  to 
1849.  He  entered  Harvard  College  in  the  class  which 
graduated  in  1806,  but  left  college,  with  a  portion  of  his 
class,  in  his  senior  year.  He  afterwards  practiced  law  in 
Rutland  and  Fitchburg  in  Worcester  County,  and,  in  1825, 
came  to  Maine.  He  had  been  a  senator  in  the  Legislature 
of  Massachusetts,  and  a  member  of  the  convention  for 
amending  the  constitution  of  that  State.  lie  formed  a 
partnership  with  his  brother  on  his  coming  to  Maine,  and 


ETHER   SHEPLEY.  621 

they  conducted  a  very  extensive  business  in  the  profession. 
He  died  in  1858,  leaving,  Ijy  his  wife  Abigail,  a  daughter  of 
Nathaniel  Fellows  Cunningham  of  Lunenburg,  Massachu- 
setts, two  daughters  and  one  son,  a  graduate  of  Bowdoin 
College,  and  now  in  the  practice  of  law  in  Minnesota. 

This  branch  of  the  family  restored  the  original  orthogra- 
phy of  the  name :  they  found  on  examination  of  English 
registers  and  documents,  that  the  name  was  early,  and  al- 
most invariably,  spelled  with  a  final  y,  as  it  was  pronounced. 
As  early  as  1316,  a  record  appears,  in  wliich  "  John  de 
Shepley  "  signed  a  certificate  as  "  Lord  of  the  township  of 
Shcpley  in  the  county  of  York."  Being  satisfied  that  such 
was  the  correct  mode  of  writing  the  name,  it  was  then 
adopted,  and  has  ever  since  been  retained.  The  christian 
name,  Ether,  was  adopted  from  Joshua  xix.  7,  the  designa- 
tion of  one  of  the  villages  of  the  Canaanites  in  the  south  of 
Judah,  allotted  to  Simeon.  The  word  in  Hebrew  means  a 
stone. 

Mr.  Shepley  received  his  elementary  education  at  Groton 
Academy,  under  the  instruction  of  Caleb  Butler.  Thence 
he  proceeded  to  Dartmouth  College,  from  which  he  took  his 
degree  in  1811.  Among  his  classmates  were  Professor 
Nathaniel  H.  Carter,  Bczaleel  Cushman,  and  Nathaniel 
"Wright,  who  were  all  instructors  in  Portland  after  leaving 
college  ;  Mr.  Cushman,  for  thirty  years,  having  had  charge 
of  the  academy.  Dr.  William  Cogswell ;  Daniel  Poor,  the 
celebrated  missionary ;  Professor  Parker  of  the  Law  School 
at  Harvard ;  Amos  Kendall,  Postmaster-General  under 
President  Jackson  ;  and  other  distinguished  men,  —  were 
members  of  that  class.    . 

On  leaving  college,  Mr.  Shepley  entered  the  office  of 
Dudley  Hubbard  in  South  Berwick,  where  he  remained  two 
years,  under  very  favoral^le  circumstances.  The  large  col- 
lection business  of  Mr.  Hubbard  was  sulforing  for  want  of 


622  ETHER  SHEPLEY. 

attention  :  Mr.  Shcpley  took  serious  hold  of  it,  and  by  his 
activity  and  intelligence,  revived  it,  and  left  it  in  a  favorable 
condition.  He  was  urged  by  Mr.  Hubbard  to  continue  his 
services,  but  he  preferred  a  change,  and  successively  read 
in  the  offices  of  Zabdiel  B.  Adams  in  Worcester  County, 
and  Solomon  Strong  in  Hampshire.  On  being  admitted  to 
the  bar,  he  came  immediately  to  Saco,  where  he  commenced 
practice  in  July,  1814.  With  the  experience  he  had 
gathered,  and  the  habits  of  business  he  had  acquired,  he 
was  more  than  usually  advanced  over  young  practitioners 
in  the  knowledge  of  his  profession,  and  in  the  use  of  its 
machinery ;  and  early  entered  upon  a  successful  and  lucra- 
tive practice,  which  his  industry,  close  application,  and 
practical  ability  made  secure,  and  gave  to  him  a  prominent 
place  in  the  community  in  the  midst  of  which  he  resided. 

In  1819,  the  subject  of  the  separation  from  Massachusetts 
was  earnestly  discussed  in  this  State,  and  Mr.  Shepley 
zealously  entered  into  it :  he  was  elected  to  represent 
Saco  that  year  in  the  General  Court,  and  the  same  year 
was  chosen  a  member  of  the  convention  which  formed  the 
constitution  of  Maine.  In  February,  1821,  he  was  appointed 
United  States  attorney  for  the  District  of  Maine,  as  suc- 
cessor to  William  P.  Preble,  who  was  placed  on  the  bench 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State.  This  office  he  held 
until  his  election  as  one  of  the  senators  in  Congress  from 
Maine,  in  1833.  The  duties  of  that  office,  in  connection 
with  his  very  extensive  practice,  he  discharged  with  great 
promptness  and  fidelity,  of  which  no  better  evidence  can  be 
adduced,  than  the  length  of  time  he  was  permitted  to  retain 
it,  —  through  the  four  closing  years  of  Mr.  Monroe's  admin- 
istration, the  whole  of  Mr.  Adams's,  and  four  years  into 
General  Jackson's,  and  left  it  at  last,  only  for  a  more 
exalted  station.  In  1833,  he  was  elected  to  the  Senate  of 
the  United  States,  as  successor  to  John  Holmes.    In  this 


ETHER  SHEPLEY.  623 

body,  lie  sustained  the  administration  of  General  Jackson 
by  his  votes  and  his  voice.     On  tlie   great   and   exciting 
question  of  removing  the  deposits  from  the  United  States 
Bank,  he  made  two  earnest  and  able  speeches  in  January, 
1834,  vindicating  the  course  and  policy  of  the  President. 
In   one  of  these,  he  paid  a  glowing  eulogium  to  his  class- 
mate Amos  Kendall,  who  was  then  the  agent  of  the  govern- 
ment in  relation  to  those  deposits.     But  the  office  of  sena- 
tor, however  favorable  and  agreeable,  the  good  opinion  en- 
tertained by  the  government  of  Maine  of  his  legal  ability, 
did  not  permit  him  long  to  retain ;  for  in  September,  1836, 
a  vacancy  having  occurred  on  the   bench  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  by  the  resignation  of  Judge  Parris,  who  had  been 
appointed  by  President  Van  Buren,  second  comptroller  of 
the  treasury,  he  was  immediately  appointed  to  that  place. 
It  was   apparent  from  the   studies   and  habits  of  Judge 
Shepley,  that  the  quiet  pursuits  of  professional  duties,  and 
especially  in  their  highest  forms  as  an  expositor  of  the  law, 
were  more  suited  to  his  tastes  than  the  turmoil  of  politics. 
As  a  judge,  both  at  nisi  prius,  and  in  the  law  department, 
his  ability,  his  industry,  and  integrity  fully  justified  the 
partiality   and   good  judgment    of    the  administration   of 
Governor  Dunlap,  by  which  the  appointment  was  made.     In 
1848,  he  was  appointed  chief  justice,  as  successor  to  Chief 
Justice  Whitman,  with  the  general  concurrence  of  the  bar 
and  public  sentiment.     His  long  experience  as  a  jurist  and 
a  judge,  and  the  fidelity  and  legal  acumen  which  he  had 
displayed  in  his  long  judicial  service,  placed  him  promi- 
nently before  the  public,  as  a  fit  successor  of  the  eminent 
judge  who  had  preceded  him.     He  continued  in  this  high 
office  until  the  autumn  of  1855,  when  his   constitutional 
term  of  seven  years  having  expired,  he  retired  from  the 
bench,  his  ermine  unsullied,  and  closed  his  long  judicial 
life.     No  judge  ever  more  faithfully  or  more  promptly 


624  ETHER  SHEPLEY. 

discharged  the  duties  of  the  bench  than  Judge  Shepley ; 
and  the  ability  which  characterized  his  judicial  career  is 
amply  illustrated  in  tlie  twenty-seven  volumes  of  the  Maine 
Reports  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  fortieth  inclusive.     His 
opinions  are  drawn  with  clearness,  directness,  and  force  ; 
and  no  one  can  ^mistake  the  point  which  he  endeavors  to 
establish.     That  Judge  Shepley  was  devoted  to  his  profes- 
sional and  judicial  life,  and  clung  witli  strong  attachment 
to  his  domestic  joys,  we  can  have  no  better  proof  than  the 
firmness  with  which  he  resisted  the  allurements  held  out  to 
him  to  accept  positions  under  the  general  government :  while 
on  the  bench,  he  was  urged  to  accept  olHcial  stations  by 
authorities   at  Washington,  which  he  uniformly   declined, 
preferring  the  comforts  of  his  home,  and  the  steady  and 
calm  pursuits  of  the  duties  of  a  judge,  which  he  could  not 
but  feel  were  useful  to  his  fellow  citizens,  to  offices  of  more 
notoriety  and  higher  compensation,  which  would  interfere 
with  his  domestic  arrangements. 

The  last  public  office  Judge  Shepley  was  called  to  per- 
form, was  that  of  sole  commissioner  to  revise  the  public 
laws,  to  which  he  was  appointed  by  Resolve  of  April  1, 
1856.  And  notwithstanding  the  injudicious  instruction  to 
complete,  and  cause  his  report  to  be  printed,  on  or  before 
the  fifteenth  day  of  Npvember  following,  he  accomplished 
the  almost  herculean  task,  and  prepared  a  very  full  index 
of  the  whole  body  of  the  public  statutes,  which  constitutes 
what  is  now  cited  as  the  "Revised  Statutes  of  Maine," 
published  in  1857.  If  more  time  had  been  allowed,  we 
should,  of  course,  had  a  more  complete  and  perfect  work, 
with  the  benefit  of  the  wise  and  learned  suggestions  of  an 
experienced  and  sensible  judge,  upon  the  discrepancies 
inconsistencies,  and  im})crfcctions  in  the  great  body  of  our 
law.  Defects  and  contradictions  undoubtedly  exist,  which 
can  only  be  remedied  by  the  most  careful  investigation  and 


ETHER  SHEPLEY.  625 

comparison,  by  a  sound  and  experienced  jurist.  But  in 
this,  as  in  many  other  cases, —  an  American  fault,  —  our 
people  seem  to  regard  more  the  having  things  done  quickly, 
than  well  done.  They  had  better  follow  the  Shakespearian 
rule,  "  If  it  were  done  when  'tis  done,  then  'twere  well  it 
were  done  quickly  ;" — we  add,  but  not  otherwise. 

Judge  Shepley  has  uniformly,  through  his  long  life,  been 
the  firm  friend  and  supporter  of  good  order,  and  a  just 
administration  of  law  :  he  has  given  substantial  aid  to  the 
cause  of  religion,  good  morals,  and  general  education,  and 
has  himself  practiced  upon  the  rules  he  has  prescribed  for 
others.  He  has  been  thirty-three  years  a  trustee  of 
Bowdoin  College,  having  been  chosen  in  1829  ;  and  he  has 
been  a  careful  observer  of  its  affairs,  and  a  faithful  counsel- 
lor in  its  emergencies.  He  has  fulfilled  all  the  numer- 
ous trusts,  private  and  public,  intrusted  to  him,  uprightly, 
diligently,  and  well,  for  the  good  of  the  people  and  the 
individuals  in  whose  service  he  has  been  employed.  And 
after  a  well  filled  public  life  of  thirty-six  years,  and  at  the 
age  of  seventy-three  years,  he  may  very  properly  lay  aside 
the  armor,  which  has  been  worn  worthily  and  with  honor, 
through  the  conflicts  of  political  contention,  the  sharp 
strifes  of  the  forum,  and  the  calmer  struggles  with  the 
subtleties  and  nice  discriminations  of  legal  investigation, 
where  the  arms  are  reason  and  judgment,  against  the 
keen  logic  of  the  masters  of  rhetoric.  He  has  received 
from  Dartmouth  College  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.  D. 

In  1816,  Judge  Shepley  married  Anna  Foster,  with  whom 
he  has  lived  in  the  most  affectionate  relations  to  the  present 
time.  By  her,  he  has  had  iivQ  sons  ;  three  of  whom,  only, 
survive :  John  11.,  educated  at  Bowdoin  College  in  the 
class  of  1837,  and  now  a  prominent  lawyer  in  St.  Louis, 
Missouri ;  George  Foster,  a  graduate  of  Dartmouth  in 
18o7,  well  known  as  a  distinguished  lawyer  in  Maine,  who 


626  ETHER  shepley:  peleg  sprague. 

entered  the  army  as  colonel  of  the  twelfth  regiment  of  Maine 
volunteers,  and  is  now  acting  brigadier  general  and  military 
governor  of  Louisiana.  The  third  son  is  Leonard  D.,  a 
merchant  in  Portland,  Maine.  Tliey  all  have  families. 
The  Chief  Justice,  too  far  advanced  to  take  a  part  in 
active  hostilities  in  support  of  the  government  of  his  coun- 
try, sustains  the  cause  by  his  words,  and  co-operation  in  its 
efforts  to  put  down  the  rebellion.  And  to  enable  his  son  to 
fight  freely,  and  unencumbered  by  his  numerous  engage- 
ments at  home,  he  has  taken  his  place  anew  in  the  courts, 
and  burnished  up  the  forensic  armor  for  fresh  contests  on 
the  field  of  his  former  struggles.  "  E'en  in  his  ashes  live 
his  wonted  fires." 

PELEG     SPRAGUE.      1815  —  1835. 

Among  the  lawyers  who  rapidly  acquired  eminence  in 
politics,  as  well  as  in  law,  in  the  county  of  Kennebec,  was 
Peleg  Sprague,  now  the  distinguished  judge  of  the  District 
Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  District  of  Massachusetts. 
Judge  Sprague  was  the  son  of  Seth  and  Deborah  Sprague 
of  Duxbury,  Massachusetts,  where  he  was  born,  April  28, 
1793.  His  first  American  ancestor  was  William  Sprague, 
who  is  supposed  to  have  come  over  in  the  fleet  with  Rev. 
Mr.  Higginson  to  Salem,  in  1629.  His  elder  brothers, 
Ralph  and  Richard,  of  Charlestown,  certainly  arrived  with 
that  company.  William  settled  in  Hingham,  and  for  a 
time  lived  in  Marshfield.  The  descent  was  through  Sam- 
uel, son  of  William,  born  in  1640,  and  his  son  Samuel,  born 
in  1674. 

Mr.  Sprague  was  educated  at  Harvard  College,  from 
which  he  took  his  degree  in  1812.  His  class  contained 
men  who  have  since  become  distinguished  in  civil  life : 
among  them  were,  —  Franklin  Dexter ;  James  H.  Duncan  ; 


AT    THE     AGE    OF  51. 


PELEG   SPRA.GDE.  627 

Dr.  Homans ;  Charles  G.  Loring  ;  the  late  Bishop  Wain- 
wright  of  New  York  ;  George  Downes  and  Dr.  Nourse  of 
Maine.  Judge  Sprague  maintained  a  high  rank  in  college, 
was  a  member  of  its  brightest  literary  society,  and  grad- 
uated with  prominent  honor.  His  performance  at  Com- 
mencement was  a  dissertation  "  on  the  Superiority  of 
Modern  Europe."  Loring  had  the  salutatory  oration  ;  and 
Henry  Ware,  Jr.,  a  poem  on  the  pursuit  of  fame.  On 
leaving  the  halls  of  the  university,  he,  with  some  others  of 
his  classmates,  proceeded  to  the  law  school  of  Judges  Reeve 
and  Gould,  in  Litchfield,  Connecticut,  which  then  offered 
advantages,  under  those  distinguished  lawyers,  superior  to 
any  other  in  the  country ;  for,  at  that  time,  none  of  the 
colleges  had  introduced  into  their  courses  of  study,  a  depart- 
ment for  legal  instruction.  After  leaving  Litchfield,  he 
spent  the  remainder  of  his  term,  partly  with  Judge  Hub- 
bard in  Boston,  and  partly  with  Levi  Lincoln  in  Worcester : 
he  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  Plymouth  County,  in  Au- 
gust, 1815. 

He  immediately  opened  an  office  in  Augusta,  where  he 
remained  about  two  years,  when  he  removed  to  Hallowell. 
The  bar  of  Kennebec  contained  at  that  time  able  lawyers 
and  advocates :  among  them  were  Judges  Bridge  and 
Fuller,  Reuel  Williams,  Frederic  Allen,  Thomas  Bond,  and 
Timothy  Boutelle.  It  required  industry,  perseverance,  and 
a  high  ambition,  as  well  as  intellectual  powers,  to  compete 
successfully  with  such  men,  who  had  acquired  the  confi- 
dence of  the  communities  in  which  they  lived,  by  ability 
and  honorable  practice.  But  Mr.  Sprague,  nothing  discour- 
aged by  such  an  array  of  talent,  but  rather  stimulated  by 
it,  steadily  and  patiently  waited  for  the  success  which  was 
sure  to  follow  a  persistent  and  earnest  endeavor  to  attain 
the  higher  ranks  and  honors  of  the  profession.  His  agree- 
able and  eloquent  manner  as  an  advocate,  and  his  ackuowl- 


G28  PELEG   SPRAGUE. 

edged  ability  as  a  lawyer,  soon  introduced  liim  to  a  profitable 
business ;  and  within  five  years  from  the  commencement  of 
his  practice,  we  find  him  taking  his  position  in  the  reports 
as  the  manager  of  causes  at  the  law  term  of  the  Supreme 
Court,  lie  appears  in  the  first  volume  of  Greenleaf  in 
1820 ;  and  each  subsequent  volume  of  the  Maine  Reports 
contains  his  arguments,  while  he  remained  in  the  State, 
showing  a  steady  progress  in  the  magnitude  and  importance 
of  his  business.  The  death,  in  1827,  of  Mr.  Bond,  of  the 
same  town,  who  was  enjoying  the  entire  confidence  of  the 
people,  in  his  profession,  gave  an  accession  to  the  engage- 
ments of  Mr.  Sprague,  and  a  more  prominent  position. 

Mr.  Sprague's  style  of  speaking,  both  at  the  bar  and  in 
public  assemblies,  was  so  entirely  different  from  what  the 
people  in  the  county  had  been  accustomed  to  hear,  that  it 
attracted  them  by  its  novelty,  and  interested  them  by  its 
beauty.  The  addresses  at  the  bar  in  that  county  had  been 
particularly  plain  and  simple ;  the  great  lawyers  there  — 
Wilde,  Bridge,  Bond,  Williams,  and  Allen  —  made  no  pre- 
tensions to  oratory  ;  they  did  what  they  undertook  to  do, 
presented  their  cases  to  the  jury  and  the  court  in  a  brief, 
comprehensive,  unvarnished  manner,  bringing  out  every 
material  point  in  the  case,  and  laboring  solely  for  that  pur- 
pose. But  a  young  man  came  among  them,  highly  edu- 
cated and  cultivated,  ambitious  of  distinction,  and  capable 
of  making  a  figure,  and  introduced  a  style  of  elocution, 
showy  and  rather  declamatory,  accompanied  by  gesticu- 
lation which  attracted  by  its  gracefulness  as  well  as  pecu- 
liarity, and  rendered  the  advocate  extremely  popular. 

And  his  popularity  was  not  confined  to  the  bar,  but  ex- 
tended through  the  community,  and  made  him  a  desirable 
candidate  for  public  office.  He  had  come  into  Maine  a 
democrat,  sustaining  the  principles  and  traditions  of  his 
family ; — he  joined  the  dominant  party  in  the  State  in  favor 


PELEG   SPRAGUE.  629 

of  separation  :  his  adopted  town  threw  a  strong  vote  in  favor 
of  the  measure,  three  hundred  and  forty-four  to  ninety-six  ; 
and  he  was  elected  a  representative  from  Hallowell  to  the 
first  Legislature,  in  1820,  of  the  new  State,  and  re-elected 
the  subsequent  year.  His  political  course  was  now  onward. 
In  the  severe  presidential  contest  of  1824,  he  gave  his  con- 
currence, but  not  very  hearty  exertion,  in  favor  of  the  elec- 
tion of  John  Quincy  Adams  :  parties,  it  is  well  remem- 
bered, were  strangely  divided  in  tliis  quadrangular  contest 
between  the  four  great  candidates,  who  had  their  partisans 
in  their  respective  portions  of  the  country.  Maine  cast  her 
whole  electoral  ballot  for  Adams.  Mr.  Sprague  was  elected 
to  Congress  the  same  year  from  the  Kennebec  District,  and 
then,  through  the  whole  of  the  administration  of  Mr.  Adams, 
gave  to  it  his  hearty  and  valued  support.  He  was  again 
elected  to  the  Twentieth  Congress.  During  both  of  these 
terms,  he  engaged  in  debates  on  important  questions,  and 
always  attracted  attention  by  his  able  and  eloquent  ad- 
vocacy of  the  measures  which  he  espoused. 

So  acceptable  were  his  services  in  Congress  during  these 
four  years,  and  so  popular  had  he  become  in  the  State,  that 
on  tlie  resignation  of  General  Chandler,  to  accept  the  col- 
lectorship  of  Portland  in  1829,  Mr.  Sprague  was  chosen  his 
successor,  and  was  succeeded  in  the  House  by  George  Evans, 
who  had  commenced,  in  his  own  State,  a  brilliant  political 
as  well  as  legal  career,  which  was  continued  through  eight- 
een successive  years  in  Congress,  twelve  as  a  representative 
and  six  as  a  senator,  to  1847,  a  period  of  political  life  in 
Congress  unparalleled  in  our  State. 

In  the  Senate,  Mr.  Sprague  took  a  very  prominent  position 
as  an  opponent  of  the  administration  of  General  Jackson. 
On  the  protective  system  and  on  the  measures  of  hostility 
to  the  national  bank,  he  stood  by  Mr.  Clay,  and  made  able 
speeches  on  the  subjects.    Ho  defended  General  Jackson's 


630  PELEG   SPRAGUE. 

policy  on  the  nullification  scheme  of  South  Carolina,  and 
•with  Mr.  Webster,  sustained  the  administration  in  its 
prompt  and  vigorous  action  against  that  rebellious  move- 
ment. In  January,  18o4,  he  made  an  eloquent  speech  on 
Mr.  Clay's  resolutions  adverse  to  tlie  removal  of  the  deposits 
from  the  bank  of  the  United  States.  In  speaking  of  what 
he  denounced  as  the  arbitrary  acts  of  President  Jackson, 
he  said,  "  A  king  of  England  or  France,  who  should,  at 
this  day,  disregard  the  acts  of  the  Legislature  or  the  de- 
crees of  the  Judiciary,  would  not  only  shake  their  thrones 
to  their  foundations,  but  might  soon  behold  in  their  stead, 
the  bloody  scatlblds  of  Louis  and  of  Charles  !  Shall  a 
republican  president  have  prerogatives  over  both  ?  "  Again, 
he  says,  "  Such  are  the  delusions  which  have  placed  the  iron 
scepter  in  the  hands  of  the  Caesars  and  Bonapartes  of  past 
ages,  and  overwhelmed  or  jeopardized  all  the  free  govern- 
ments of  the  earth." 

His  reputation  stood  high  as  an  able  and  eloquent  states- 
man ;  but  the  friends  of  President  Jackson  had  acquired 
asceadaucy  in  Maine,  although,  on  his  first  election,  he  had 
received  but  one  out  of  the  nine  electoral  votes  of  the 
State.  A  quarrel  soon  arose  between  the  majority  party  in 
the  Legislature  and  our  senators  in  Congress,  —  Messrs. 
Holmes  and  Sprague,  —  on  the  subjects  of  national  dispute 
which  were  agitating  the  country.  This  was  gentle  at  first, 
but  increased  in  the  four  years  of  its  continuance  to  a 
storm.  The  first  movement  on  the  part  of  the  Legislature 
was  a  resolution,  approved  February  23,  1832,  instructing 
the  senators,  and  requesting  the  representatives,  to  vote 
against  the  renewal  of  the  charter  of  the  United  States 
Bank.  This  monition  was  unheeded,  the  members  follow- 
ing their  own  predilections  on  the  subject.  Early  in  the 
next  session  of  the  Legislature,  January,  1833,  a  scries  of 
resolutions  was  passed,  denouncing  the  United  States  Bank 


PELEG   SPRAGUE.  631 

and  a  protective  tariff,  and  declaring  "  that  the  people  of 
Maine  disapprove  of  tlie  conduct  of  both  their  senators  in 
the  Congress  of  the  United  States,  relative  to  the  renewal 
of  the  charter  of  the  bank  of  the  United  States,  and  rela- 
tive to  the  tariff;  and  in  consequence  of  the  utter  disregard 
by  said  senators  of  the  instructions  of  the  last  Legislature," 
*  *  *  "  each  of  said  senators  has  forfeited  the  confidence 
of  his  constituents."  They  further  declared  the  right  of 
the  Legislature  to  instruct  their  senators,  and  "  to  exact  of 
them  a  strict  observance  of  such  instructions."  They  close 
with  a  resolve  that  the  governor  transmit  "  a  copy  of  the 
resolutions  to  the  president  of  the  Senate,  and  to  both  of 
the  delinquent  senators  from  Maine." 

This  blast,  too,  was  ineffectual  to  move  the  senators  from 
their  places,  or  to  change  their  votes,  founded  on  their  own 
convictions.  Mr.  Sprague  ^wrote  a  long  and  explicit  letter 
to  the  Legislature,  explaining  his  views  and  motives  of 
action,  and  the  reasons  on  which  his  votes  were  based. 
The  letter  was  laid  before  the  body  to  which  it  was  addressed, 
but  never  published.  Mr.  Holmes  also  wrote  a  letter  which 
he  caused  to  be  published  in  the  National  Intelligencer,  and 
which  the  speaker  of  the  House  in  Maine  undertook  to 
read  ;  but  it  reflected  so  severely  on  the  members,  that  the 
further  reading  was  dispensed  ivith,  and  both  documents 
went  to  the  tomb  of  the  Capulets. 

The  next  year,  183 i,  the  Legislature  renewed  the  attack 
among  the  first  business  of  the  session ;  repeating  their 
hostile  expression  against  the  national  bank,  and  again 
instructing  the  senators,  and  requesting  the  representatives, 
to  oppose  the  restoration  of  the  deposits,  and  the  renewal  of 
the  charter.  Still  in  vain,  as  regarded  Mr.  Sprague  and  the 
whig  members  of  the  House,  who  sat  quietly  in  their  scats, 
while  the  storm  was  fiercely  raging  witliout,  and  casting 
their  votes  according  to  the  convictions  of  their  own  minds. 


632  PELEG   SPRAGUE. 

Mr.  Holmes,  whose  term  expired  in  1833,  was  succeeded  by 
Judge  Shepley,  a  firm  supporter  of  General  Jackson's 
measures.  Mr.  Evans  was  the  only  whig  member  of  the 
House  from  Maine,  at  that  time. 

In  February,  1835,  the  Legislature  again  adopted  a  series 
of  resolutions  on  the  same  subject,  approving  of  those 
before  adopted,  and  giving  similar  instructions.  Mr. 
Sprague,  having,  in  the  meantime,  been  defeated  as  the 
whig  candidate  for  governor,  and  having  determined  to 
move  to  Boston,  then  resigned  his  office  as  senator,  and 
established  himself  in  the  profession  in  Massachusetts,  pre- 
vious to  the  expiration  of  his  term.  While  he  held  the 
office  of  senator,  he  faithfully  discharged  his  duty,  main- 
taining a  high  rank  in  that  distinguished  body,  and  gave 
entire  satisfaction  to  his  political  friends.  The  mooted 
questions  of  obedience  to  instructions,  according  to  the 
varying  phases  of  political  ascendancy,  in  the  ever-shifting 
and  transitory  state  of  parties,  remains  unsettled,  and  I 
must  leave  it  to  the  casuist  to  decide.  Subsequently,  in 
the  case  of  Mr.  Williams,  the  card  was  changed,  and 
instructions  as  fierce  were  hurled  against  him,  by  the  party 
which  had  sustained  Judge  Sprague.  It  is  a  political  game 
of  shuttlecock,  which  is  adopted  to  get  rid  of  an  opponent 
from  an  influential  sphere,  for  the  purpose  of  supplying  the 
place  with  a  friend  of  the  ruling  party. 

Mr.  Sprague  continued  in  the  practice  at  Boston  until 
1841,  when  in  July  of  that  year,  the  venerable  and  honored 
Judge  Davis,  having  retired  from  the  bench  of  the  District 
Court  of  the  United  States,  which  he  had  occupied  over 
forty  years,  Mr.  Sprague  was  at  once  appointed  to  the  office. 
We  have  before  noticed  the  remarkable  similarity  in  tho 
history  of  the  District  Courts  in  Massachusetts  and  Maine. 
Tlicy  were  both  created  by  the  same  law  of  Congress,  passed 
in  September,  1789,  and  their  first  judges  were  appointed  at 


PELEG   SPRA.GUE.  633 

the  same  time,  viz.,  John  Lowell  for  Massachusetts,  and 
David  Sewall  for  Maine.  Since  that  period,  but  three 
judges  have  filled  the  seat  of  either  court.  Judge  Lowell 
was  succeeded  by  Judge  Davis,  in  1801  ;  and  he,  after  an 
illustrious  service  of  forty  years,  resigned  the  office,  which 
has  since  been  filled  by  the  present  incumbent.  In  Maine, 
Judge  Sewall  held  the  office  twenty-nine  years,  until  1818, 
and  was  succeeded  by  Judge  Parris,  who  relinquished  it  in 
1822,  to  take  the  governor's  chair:  since  which  time  the 
place  has  been  honorably  filled  for  over  forty  years  by  the 
present  occupant.  Judge  Ware  —  in  each  court,  three 
judges  filling  the  space  of  seventy-three  years  !  It  is  but 
justice  to  say,  that  the  judges  who  are  now  occupying  those 
important  positions,  will  not  suffer  in  comparison  with  their 
distinguished  predecessors.  Judge  Sprague  has  exhibited 
through  his  judicial  course  of  more  than  twenty-one  years, 
great  clearness  of  judgment,  sound  discrimination,  and 
legal  acumen  and  accuracy,  combined  with  unquestioned 
purity  and  integrity  of  principle,  and  urbanity  of  manners. 
In  a  commercial  community  like  Massachusetts,  the  princi- 
ples of  admiralty  law  are  in  constant  requisition,  and  of 
large  magnitude,  creating  a  demand  for  legal  talent,  and 
deep  and  varied  research  in  the  solution  of  intricate  and 
perplexing  questions.  The  business  of  that  court  is  very 
large,  taxing  almost  to  excess  the  physical  and  mental 
powers  of  the  judge.  Judge  Sprague  has  conducted  it 
most  ably  through  difficulties  which  would  have  discour- 
aged many  a  man  of  less  firmness,  perseverance,  and 
intelligence.  When  it  is  considered  what  wise  and  learned 
opinions  this  eminent  judge  has  delivered,  notwithstanding 
his  eyes  have  for  years  been  overshadowed  in  darkness,  our 
admiration  of  the  judge  can  only  be  exceeded  by  our  regard 
for  the  man  ;  and  constrains  us  to  utter  the  wish  that  his 
judicial  life  may  not  fall  short  of  that  of  his  learned  prede- 
cessor. 

41 


634  PELEG  sprague:  ashur  ware. 

No  volume  of  reports  has  issued  from  the  District  Court 
of  Massachusetts  ;  although  we  cherish  a  hope  that  for  the 
sake  of  the  profession  and  the  mercantile  community,  the 
judge  himself,  or  some  other  able  hand,  will  collect  the 
opinions  of  the  court  as  prepared  by  that  able  judge, 
scattered,  as  they  are,  like  the  leaves  of  the  sybil,  and 
give  them  a  permanent  place  by  the  side  of  the  learned 
decisions  of  the  Circuit  Court,  with  which  he  is  connected. 
Many  of  his  opinions  have  appeared  in  the  Law  Reporter 
and  other  periodicals,  and  may  be  studied  by  lawyers  and 
students  as  models  of  reasoning  and  of  judicial  style.  In 
1847,  Harvard  College  justly  and  properly  bestowed  upon 
Judge   Sprague  its  highest  honor,  that  of  LL.  D. 

In  August,  1818,  Judge  Sprague  married  Sarah  Deming 
of  Utica,  New  York,  but  a  native  of  Berlin,  Connecticut, 
by  whom  he  had  three  sons  and  one  daughter.  Charles 
F.,  the  eldest  son,  died  in  1840,  aged  twenty-one.  Seth 
Edward  is  clerk  of  the  United  States  District  Court  in 
Massachusetts,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  1841,  and  of  the 
Law  School,  1843.  The  youngest  son  is  Francis  Peleg,  a 
graduate  of  Harvard  Medical  School,  in  the  class  of  1857. 
His  daughter  Sarah  is  the  wife  of  George  P.  Upham,  a 
merchant  in  Boston. 

ashur     ware.      1817  — 

In  the  class  at  Harvard,  of  1804,  graduated  Aslmr 
Ware,  the  time-honored  Judge  of  the  District  Court  of  the 
United  States  for  Maine.  His  class  was  a  brilliant  one  :  it 
contained  sixty-one  names,  among  which  were  tliose  of 
Colonel  Aspinwall,  who  lost  an  arm  in  the  war  of  1812, 
and  was  long  consul  at  London  ;  Rev.  Samuel  Carey,  loved 
and  early  lost ;  Rev.  Dr.  Chapin,  late  President  of  Watcr- 
ville  College  ;   General  Eustis ;   William  Freeman,  son  of 


ASHUR    WARE.  635 

the  late  Judge  Freeman  of  Portland ;  the  late  Benjamin 
Merrill  of  Salem  ;  Andrews  Norton,  the  Christian  scholar; 
and  Rev.  Samuel  C.  Thacher  of  Boston.  In  this  talented 
company,  Mr.  Ware  gained  high  honors  as  a  scholar,  a 
place  on  the  rolls  of  the  Phi-Beta-Kappa  Society,  and  a 
forensic  at  Commencement  with  Joseph  E.  Smith.  Such 
was  the  foundation  on  which  his  future  labors  and  fame 
were  to  rest.  The  subject  of  his  forensic  seems  to  point  to 
a  study  which  he  afterwards  pursued  to  high  results :  it 
was,  "  Whether  the  law  of  nature  be  equally  applicable  to 
individuals  and  nations."  Tliacher,  a  beautiful  and  polished 
scholar,  had  the  first  part,  an  English  oration ;  Norton, 
an  English  oration  on  "Duelling;"  and  Freeman,  a  poem 
on  "  Credulity." 

Judge  Ware's  first  American  ancestor  ^was  Robert  Ware, 
who  came  to  Dedham,  Massachusetts,  about  1640.  He  was 
a  Puritan  of  the  "  Round-head  "  party  ;  and  for  his  zeal  in 
that  cause,  tradition  leads  us  to  believe  that  his  safety  ren- 
dered it  necessary  or  convenient  for  him  to  leave  the  mother 
country.  He  came  from  the  eastern  part  of  England,  near 
Boston.  I  think  the  family  is  from  Ireland :  the  family  in 
Devonshire  and  Essex  Counties  has  the  same  coat  of  arms 
as  that  of  Ireland.  Robert  Ware  of  Dublin,  at  the  close  of 
the  last  century,  was  great-grandson  of  Sir  James  Ware, 
Knight,  the  eminent  Irish  historian  and  antiquary.  Judge 
Ware  was  the  sixth  degree  from  Robert  of  Dedham,  through 
John,  second,  Joseph,  third,  John,  fourth,  Joseph,  fifth, 
Ashur,  sixth.  His  grandfather,  John,  moved  to  Sherburne, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  had  ten  children,  of  whom  Joseph, 
the  father  of  the  judge,  was  the  eldest,  and  Henry,  for 
forty  years  the  eminent  and  learned  Professor  of  Divinity  at 
Harvard,  was  the  youngest.  Joseph,  the  father  of  Ashur, 
was  a  man  of  note  in  his  native  town :  he  held  many 
municipal  offices,  was  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  and 


636  ASHUR   WARE. 

lost  an  arm  in  the  battle  of  White  Plains.  He  had  two 
brothers  in  the  battle  of  Bunker  Hill,  George  and  Benjamin. 
He  died  in  1833,  aged  eighty-four.  He  had  three  sons, 
Alpheus,  Ashur,  and  Henry  ;  and  two  daughters,  Betsey 
and  Patty,  by  his  wife  Grace  Coolidge  of  Sherburne. 

Judge  Ware  was  born  in  Sherburne,  February  10,  1782 : 
he  was  fitted  for  college,  partly  by  his  father,  who  had 
passed  through  the  preliminary  studies  for  admission  to 
college,  and  finished  with  the  Rev.  Mr.  Brown  of  Sherburne, 
and  was  admitted  in  1800. 

It  may  be  mentioned,  in  this  connection,  and  as  a  fact 
worthy  of  preservation,  that  the  college  and  the  country  are 
indebted  to  the  liberality  of  Joseph  and  John,  the  father 
and  uncle  of  Judge  Ware,  for  the  education  of  their 
younger  brother,  Henry ;  whose  learned  labors  and  devout 
life  have  adorned  the  college  and  blessed  the  country,  not 
only  by  the  many  pupils  who  have  received  his  particular 
care  and  instruction,  but  by  his  excellent  and  learned  sons, 
Prof.  Henry,  Jr.,  Dr.  John,  Rev.  William,  and  Charles  ;  and 
his  many  daughters,  who  have  transmitted  the  blood  and 
the  Puritan  principles,  received  from  this  beloved  progenitor, 
to  their  posterity.  His  father,  being  in  narrow  circum- 
stances, could  not  afford  the  means  of  accomplishing  this 
work,  which  was  happily  undertaken  by  the  affectionate 
brothers. 

Of  the  class  of  Mr.  Ware,  we  have  briefly  spoken.  After 
leaving  the  venerable  halls  of  the  university,  he  spent  one 
year  at  Exeter,  as  assistant  in  the  academy,  under  charge 
of  the  distinguished  Dr.  Abbot.  He  then  returned  to 
Cambridge,  where  his  uncle  Henry  had,  in  the  meantime, 
been  appointed  professor  of  theology,  to  succeed  Professor 
Tappan,  who  died  in  1803,  and  entered  his  family  as  a 
private  tutor.  He  remained  in  that  situation  about  a  year, 
when,  in  1807,  he  was  appointed  tutor  in  Greek  at  tho 


ASHUR  WARE:  HIS  COLLEGE  CONTEMPORARIES.    637 

college  ;  and  in  1811,  raised  to  a  professorship  in  the  samo 
language,  which  he  continued  to  hold  until  1815.  As  a 
teacher  in  Greek,  he  was  thoroughly  furnished :  he  had  an 
ardent  love  of  the  language,  and  a  critical  knowledge  of  it, 
which  he  retains  by  repeated  recourse  to  his  classics. 
During  this  period,  between  four  and  five  hundred  pupils 
received  instruction  from  him ;  among  whom,  we  may 
number  eminent  scholars :  the  late  Governor  Smith  of 
Maine,  Francis  C.  Gray,  Judge  Phillips,  Octavius  Pickering, 
Edward  Everett,  Judge  Sprague,  Charles  G.  Loring,  Bishop 
Wainwright,  Charles  Polsom,  William  H.  Prescott,  Presi- 
dents Sparks  and  Walker,  Dr.  Palfrey,  George  Bancroft,  and 
Caleb  Cushing. 

And  as  one  of  the  Faculty,  he  was  in  the  midst  of  a 
constellation  of  bright  particular  stars  :  the  genial  Kirkland, 
the  grave  Ware,  the  brilliant  McKean,  Professors  Willard 
and  Farrar,  the  late  Dr.  Nichols  and  Judge  Preble  of 
Portland,  the  copious  Frisbie,the  polished  Everett,  and  the 
beloved  Samuel  Cooper  Thacher.  At  that  time,  commons 
were  held  in  a  hall  on  the  first  floor  of  old  Harvard :  its 
well  sanded  stone  floor  grated  under  the  tread  of  the  busy 
feet,  as  they  rushed  to  the  pine,  red-painted  tables,  which 
extended  from  the  walls  on  each  side  of  the  hall  to  the 
aisle  which  passed  from  the  door  to  the  end  of  the  room. 
At  the  upper  end  of  the  room  were  elevated  tables  for  the 
tutors  and  officers,  who  lived  in  commons  ;  and  the  classes 
were  ranged  in  order  of  seniority  from  these  tables  of  honor 
to  the  door,  and  were  divided  into  messes, —  sixteen,  I  think, 
occupied  each  table,  constituting  two  messes.  To  each 
mess  were  assigned  two  pewter  mugs  for  drinking  vessels, 
which  contained  cider  or  water,  and  the  provisions  were 
served  and  eaten  on  pewter  dishes  :  crockery  and  glass 
were  luxuries  unknown  at  that  primitive  time,  and  during 
the  whole  period  of  my  college  life.     These  were  introduced 


638  ASHUR  ware:  commons  hall. 

when  the  commons  were  transferred,  in  1814  or  '15,  to 
University  Hall.  The  cooking  was  carried  on  underneath, 
in  the  basement ;  and  if  there  was  not  enough  on  the  table, 
we  could  size,  as  it  was  called,  that  is,  send  to  the  kitchen 
for  more  bread  or  butter,  and  it  was  made  an  extra  charge. 
Such  was  the  style  of  living  in  college  to  as  late  a  period  as 
1815.  But  this  did  not  mar  the  hilarious  enjoyment,  which 
made  the  old  commons  hall  ring  with  fun  and  laughter : 
no  dinner  tables  outside  of  a  college  hall  ever  exhibited 
more  pranks  or  jokes  than  did  those  of  Harvard  ;  and  these 
were  accompanied  often  by  missiles,  —  potatoes,  or  crusts  of 
bread,  not  to  say  sometimes  a  whole  pudding,  which  proved 
too  solid  for  the  teeth  and  stomachs  of  the  guests.  These 
were  not  always  harmless,  as  was  proved  in  the  case  of 
Prescott,  of  the  class  of  1814,  whom  I  happened  to  see  hit 
with  a  crust  of  bread,  which  nearly  destroyed  the  sight  of 
his  eye;  but  which  probably  contributed  to  make  the  great 
historian,  who  has  gone  to  an  undying  fame. 

It  was  at  the  high  table,  or  dais,  that  the  officers  sat  to 
control  the  exuberant  excitement  raging  below ;  and  here, 
at  one  time,  were  seated  Ware  and  Frisbie,Thacher,  Preble, 
Nichols,  and  Norton ;  and  as  the  elder  ones  dropped  out 
for  other  stations  in  life,  came  in  a  younger  set,  Sanger, 
Everett,  Phillips.  Among  these  wits  was  a  table  talk, 
equal,  perhaps,  to  that  which  gave  Holland  House,  and  that 
of  Samuel  Rogers  in  London,  their  peculiar  grace  and 
celebrity.  The  sparkling  wit,  the  sharp  discussion,  the 
learned  criticism,  not  only  gave  eclat  to  the  repasts,  but 
quickened  the  faculties  for  the  larger  encounters  of  life. 
Here  Nichols  and  Frisbie  initiated,  or  cultivated,  their 
splendid  gifts  in  conversation  ;  and  Ware  and  Preble,  in 
graver  discussions,  polished  their  armor  for  the  political 
controversies  wliich  largely  engaged  their  attention  when 
they  left  the  college  walls.     It  was  Frisbie,  whose  conversa- 


ASHUR  WARE.  639 

tioii  was  easy  and  flowing,  like  the  monologue  of  Coleridge, 
who,  at  the  inauguration  of  Kirkland,  gave  the  classical 
toast,  so  apt  and  appropriate,  "  Jam^  ja^n,  reg-nat  noster 
Apollo,^'  wliicii  was  received  with  unbounded  applause.  It 
was  Frisbie,  wlio,  when  the  beef  upon  the  commons  table 
was  too  strong  even  for  a  school  boy's  stomach,  allayed  the 
storm  by  his  gentle  words,  closing  with  the  expression, 
"  Such  accidents,  young  gentlemen,  sometimes  occur  in  the 
best  regulated  families."  This  brilliant  scholar  died  in  the 
service  of  the  college,  as  Professor  of  Moral  Philosophy  and 
Civil  Polity,  in  1822. 

Judge  Ware,  when  he  returned  to  Cambridge  in  1805  or 
1806,  under  the  influences  which  prevailed  in  his  uncle's 
family,  had  concluded  to  pursue  the  study  of  divinity,  and 
prepare  himself  for  the  ministry.  But,  after  a  brief  experi- 
ment, finding  the  study  not  congenial  to  his  tastes,  he 
entered  his  name  as  a  student-at-law  in  the  office  of  Loam- 
mi  Baldwin  at  Cambridge  ;  and,  on  resigning  his  professor- 
ship in  1815,  he  moved  into  Boston,  and  finished  his  studies 
in  the  office  of  his  classmate,  Joseph  E.  Smith,  who  had 
attained  an  honorable  standing  at  the  Suffolk  Bar.  While 
in  Boston,  he  took  quite  an  active  part  in  politics  as  an 
advocate  of  democratic  principles ;  and,  in  company  with 
Henry  Orne,  another  prominent  democratic  politician,  he 
edited  the  "  Boston  Yankee."  He  was  selected  by  his  party 
to  deliver  the  4th  of  July  oration  in  1816,  in  which  he 
attacked  the  measures  and  policy  of  the  federalists  with 
extreme  severity  and  sharpness  of  satire.  Tlie  next  year, 
he  delivered  another  4th  of  July  oration  in  Portland,  char- 
acterized by  the  keenness  and  sarcasm  which  a  man  of 
ardent  feelings  and  brilliant  genius  could  array  against  his 
adversaries  in  times  of  high  party  excitement.  Loring,  in 
his  "  Boston  Orators,"  thus  speaks  of  these  performances : 
"  His  brilliant  talents  displayed  iu  the  two  orations,  show 


640  ASHUR  ware:  john  anderson. 

him  a  devoted  champion  for  the  war  with  Great  Britain, 
and  a  decided  opponent  to  the  Hartford  Convention.  Tlicy 
are  valuable  records  of  the  party  feeling  of  the  day.  He 
said  of  Samuel  Dexter,  that  he  indignantly  frowned  on  all 
attempts  to  impair  the  Constitution,  or  sever  the  Union." 
He  was  particularly  severe  upon  Fisher  Ames,  and  expressed 
sentiments,  under  the  influence  of  party  excitement,  which 
he  does  not  cherish,  I  think,  at  the  present  day. 

Judge  Ware  was  admitted  to  practice  in  Suffolk  County, 
in  1816 :  the  next  year  he  came  to  Portland,  and  was 
admitted  to  the  Cumberland  Bar.  Here  he  found,  besides 
the  elders,  whose  names  have  appeared  in  the  preceding 
pages,  a  class  of  young  men,  destined  to  uphold  the  high 
character  of  that  bar,  and  to  adorn  the  profession.  Among 
these,  were  Ebenezer  Everett  of  Brunswick ;  Joseph 
Adams  of  Gorham ;  William  Barrows,  Jr.,  of  North  Yar- 
mouth, whose  early  death  was  greatly  lamented ;  Thomas 
A.  Deblois ;  Bellamy  Storer,  now  Judge  of  the  Supremo 
Court  in  Cincinnati ;  and  John  Anderson,  whose  successful 
career,  both  at  the  bar  and  in  political,  life,  was  signally 
marked.  Mr.  Anderson  was  a  graduate  of  Bowdoin  College, 
in  the  class  of  1813  ;  studied  his  profession  with  Stephen 
Longfellow,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1816.  He 
entered  at  once  into  an  encouraging  business  ;  was  ardent, 
impulsive,  uniting  the  Celtic  and  Saxon  blood :  he  entered 
actively  into  politics  ;  and  embracing  from  conviction  and 
tradition  the  democratic  principle,  he  soon  came  into  politi- 
cal life,  and  was  elected  in  1824,  a  representative  to  Con- 
gress, in  opposition  to  Mr.  Longfellow,  and  held  the  seat  by 
repeated  elections  until  1833.  From  this  position,  he  suc- 
ceeded without#pause,  to  the  office  of  mayor  of  Portland, 
which  he  held  two  years.  He  was  very  active  and  efficient 
in  securing  the  construction  of  the  Atlantic  and  St.  Law- 
rence Railroad,  by  his  counsel,  his  eloquence,  and  money. 


ASHUR  WARE.  641 

and  was  several  years  a  director.  His  useful  life  terminated 
at  the  age  of  sixty-one  years,  in  1853.  He  left  tlirec  sons : 
one  a  prominent  engineer  and  agriculturist ;  a  second,  who 
takes  his  place  at  the  bar ;  the  third,  deceased,  was  a 
physician. 

Mr.  Ware  immediately  tooic  charge  of  the  "  Eastern 
Argus,"  which  was  the  principal  inducement  of  his  coming 
to  Portland  ;  and,  by  his  vigorous  pen,  gave  it  a  character, 
which  it  had  never  attained  before,  nor  has  kept  up,  since 
he  left  it.  The  subject  of  separation  was  then  the  most 
interesting  topic  which  engaged  the  public  mind,  and  he 
advocated  it  with  consummate  ability.  On  this  great  event 
being  accomplished,  Mr.  Ware  was  rewarded  by  the  office 
of  secretary  of  state,  which  he'  held,  until  the  election  of 
Judge  Parris  to  the  office  of  governor ;  who  having  resigned 
his  seat  on  the  bench  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United 
States  for  Maine  District,  Judge  Ware  became  his  succes- 
sor, in  1822. 

Judge  Ware  had  been  but  six  years  at  the  bar,  and  was  a 
lawyer  without  briefs ;  his  business  in  the  courts  had  been 
very  limited  ;  he  had  devoted  himself  to  politics,  which  had 
superior  attractions  for  him,  over  the  law  ;  his  taste  and  his 
ambition  had  been  turned  in  this  direction  ;  he  had  not  the 
ease  and  freedom  of  public  speaking  requisite  to  make  a 
good  advocate,  although  he  had  the  learning  and  ability  to 
make  a  good  lawyer  ;  and  happily  for  him  and  the  public, 
he  fell  into  the  right  place.  Or  we  may  more  pro})erly  say, 
being  tin  the  place,  he  most  amply  and  happily  qualified 
himself  for  it. 

He  has  now  steadily,  faithfully,  and  with  great  ability, 
filled  this  honorable  station  forty  years ;  and  the  learned 
opinions  which  he  has  published  tlirougli  this  long  period, 
and  the  two  volumes  of  reports  whicli  have  preserved  in  part 
the  decisions  of  his  court,  give  abundant  and  satisfactory  tcs- 


642  ASHUR   WARE. 

tiuioiiy  to  his  profound  research,  his  amplitude  of  learning, 
and  the  clearness  and  extent  of  his  judicial  powers.  The 
admiralty  law  in  this  State,  when  he  entered  upon  his  office, 
was  in  a  crude  and  imperfect  condition  :  there  were  no  settled 
rules  established  in  regard  to  it,  and  no  published  decisions 
to  determine  the  law  applicable  to  it,  among  us.  He  went 
to  work  at  once  to  investigate  its  principles,  and  to  establish 
a  code  of  procedure  based  upon  maritime  law  and  usages 
as  promulgated  by  the  leading  writers  and  standard  author- 
ities, from  the  earliest  days  of  commercial  enterprise.  His 
numerous  decisions  on  all  branches  of  law  and  practice,  in 
the  department  of  an  obscure  and  difficult  science,  have 
given  a  permanent  form  to  the  law,  and  placed  him  among 
the  most  eminent  jurists  of  this  or  any  age.  The  first 
volume  containing  the  decisions  of  Judge  Ware  from  1822, 
was  published  in  1831),  pp.  510  :  the  second  volume  was 
published  in  1819,  pp.  413.  Besides  the  opinions  contained 
in  tliese  volumes,  there  were  others  published  from  time  to 
time,  in  the  Law  Reporter  and  other  periodicals. 

Amidst  these  learned  labors.  Judge  Ware  has  never  lost 
the  relish  for  classical  studies  and  general  literature  :  he  is 
an  indefatigabte  student ;  reading  and  study  n  re  his  meat 
and  drink  ;  he  gives  himself  to  them  and  is  absorbed  in 
them.  No  young  man  is  more  engrossed  by  pleasure,  than 
he  is  by  study :  at  the  age  of  eighty,  his  devotion  to  it 
seems  to  increase,  and  with  it,  the  accumulation  of  his  store 
of  knowledge  and  erudition.  His  pen  is  constantly 
employed,  and  upon  subjects  of  the  deepest  interest  to  the 
community.  Tlie  new  edition  of  Bouvicr's  Dictionary, 
now  in  course  of  publication  in  Philadelphia,  will  contain 
several  articles  prepared  by  Judge  Ware.  Among  them  is  a 
treatise  on  "  Admiralty  Junsdiction,"  a  subject  wliich  no 
man  in  the  country  can  treat  with  more  abiHty  ;  another 
on  the  "  Duty  of  Masters  of  Vessels  ;  "  another  on  "  Frivi- 


ASHUR   WARE.  643 

leged  Debts."      We  have    reason   to   believe  that  these 
important    questions    are    discussed    in   a    thorough   and 
exhausting  manner.     Another  paper  recently  written,  not 
suited  perhaps  to  the  spirit  or  region  of  that  publication, 
we  hope  to  see  go  into  a  wider  circulation  than  it  could 
have  between  tlie  covers  of  a  law  book :  it  is  a  discussion 
of  the  limitations  of  the  government  of  the  United  States 
under   its  constitutional  powers.     In  this  essay,  the  power 
in  regard  to  slavery  receives  a  calm,  judicious,  and  careful 
consideration.     Judge  Ware  is  a  clear  and  forcible  writer  ; 
his  style  is  of  classical  purity  ;  his  newspaper  communica- 
tions   have   been    numerous,    and    attractive    from   their 
brilliancy  and  point.     In  1831,  he  prepared  the  "Introduc- 
tory Remarks,"  to  the  first  volume  of  the  Maine  Historical 
Collections,  a  beautiful  specimen  of  his  style  and  thouglit ; 
he  was  one  of  the  publishing  committee  of  the  society :  in 
1827,  he  delivered  the  Phi-Beta-Kappa  oration  at  Bruns- 
wick, which  was  published.     This  was  an  argument  in  favor 
of  classical   learning.     I  may  be  indulged  in  introducing 
some   specimens   of  this   beautiful   production.     "  If,"  he 
says,  "  there  be  a  principle  in  the  human  mind,  which  leads 
us  to  hold  in  reverence  what  is  ancient,  there  is  another 
original  instinct  of  our  nature,  by  which  it  is  limited  and 
controlled.      It   is  that   self-love,   that   complacency,   with 
which  we  contemplate  our  own  accomplishments ;    which 
easily  inclines  us  to  the  belief,  that  in  no  period  of  time 
could   human  attainments  have   been  carried  to  a  higher 
pitch  of   perfection  than  in   the   age    in   which   we   live. 
Without  taking  much  trouble  to  examine,  we  are  ready  to 
believe  that  there  is  an  inferiority,  where  there  is  only  a 
difference."     Again  :  "  Tlie  manly  sense,  and  the  natural 
and  graceful  beauties  of  the  ancient  writers,  took  the  place 
of   the  quibbling   pedantry  and   fantastic  conceits    of   the 
schoolmen.     The  intellect  of  mankind,  which  had  long  been 


644  ASHUR  ware:  classical  literature. 

held  ill  cliains,  was  set  free,  and  received  an  impulse,  of 
which  it  still  feels  the  force.  Tlie  Grecian  and  Roman 
writers  became  the  established  models  of  taste.  They  still 
continue  to  be  so.  If,  in  some  things,  they  have  been 
surpassed,  it  has  been  in  following  the  path  which  their 
example  had  pointed  out.  And  when  we  consider  the 
intimate  connection,  the  social  character,  if  I  may  be 
allowed  the  expression,  of  the  liberal  arts,  it  may  be  said 
without  much  exaggeration,  that  they  have  been  our  instruct- 
ors in  all  the  arts  which  are  tributary  to  the  comforts  or 
the  elegancies  of  life, —  which  elevate  its  dignity  or  enlarge 
its  enjoyments."  Again :  "  It  may  be  said  without  a 
metaphor,  that  in  Greece,  poetry  was  the  daughter  of 
music.  Her  infant  accents  were  formed  in  song,  and  her 
voice  was  modulated  to  harmony  by  the  melting  notes 
which  were  awakened  from  the  harp,  by  the  hands  of 
Orpheus  or  Musseus." 

"  Plato  stands  as  far  above  all  rivals  in  this  particular,  as 
his  countryman  and  disciple,  Demosthenes.  The  easy  and 
graceful  movement  of  his  dialogue,  the  splendid  amplifica- 
tion and  harmonious  numbers  of  his  declamation,  and  the 
warm  and  animated  glow  of  moral  enthusiasm  which  he 
has  thrown  over  his  mystical  speculations,  render  his  works 
the  most  perfect  specimens  of  philosophical  eloquence  ever 
yet  produced." 

We  cannot  dwell  much  longer  among  the  beauties  of  this 
classical  discourse  :  the  whole  of  it  is  an  illustration  of  the 
deep  influence  which  the  studies  of  this  learned  scholar 
had,  in  forming  his  own  taste  and  style  ;  but  I  think  my 
readers  will  not  tire,  if  I  add  two  more  brief  extracts  from 
the  address.  "  In  an  age  of  so  much  intellectual  activity 
as  the  present,  all  sorts  of  new  opinions  are  received  with 
favor.  The  most  extravagant  have  their  hour  of  triumpli, 
until  they  arc  chased  from  the  stage  by  some  new  absurdity, 


ASHUR  WARE:    CLASSICAL  LITERATURE.  645 

or  until  the  restless  love  of  change  is  drawn  off  to  some 
more  startling  paradox.  This  insatiable  love  of  novelty  is 
carried  into  literature  as  well  as  other  things.  But  the 
principles  of  good  taste  are  unchangeable.  They  have 
their  foundation  laid  deeply  in  nature  and  in  truth  ;  and 
the  tide  of  time  which  sweeps  into  oblivion  the  sickly  illu- 
sions of  distempered  imaginations,  passes  over  these  unhurt. 
The  Bavii  and  Maevii  of  former  ages,  who,  like  those  of 
later  times,  enjoyed  for  their  hour  the  sunshine  of  fashion- 
able celebrity,  have  been  long  ago  gathered  to  their  long 
home  ;  but  the  beauties  of  Homer  and  Virgil  are  as  new  as 
they  were  at  the  beginning." 

We  close  our  quotations  with  some  passages  of  the 
conclusion.  "  The  literature  of  antiquity,  in  its  prevailing 
tone  and  character,  is  deeply  impregnated  with  the  free 
spirit  of  the  age  in  whicli  it  was  produced.  Nothing  can 
more  powerfutly  invigorate  those  generous  feelings  which 
are  inspired  by  the  consciousness  of  freedom,  than  a 
familiarity  with  the  historians  and  orators  of  Greece  and 
Rome.  There  is  an  uncompromising  spirit  of  liberty 
breathing  its  divine  inspirations  over  every  page."  "  After 
the  constitutional  liberty  of  the  country  sunk  under  the 
weight  of  military  despotism,  its  scattered  flames  still  broke 
out  at  intervals,  in  the  few  great  men  who  arose  to  throw  a 
gleam  of  brightness  over  the  surrounding  gloom.  It 
showed  itself  in  the  pathetic  and  affecting  complaints  of 
Tacitus,  and  burst  forth  in  the  bitter  and  indignant  sar- 
casms of  Juvenal.  The  venerable  father  of  song  declared  in 
prophetic  numbers  that  the  first  day  of  servitude  robbed 
man  of  half  his  virtue ;  and  Longinus,  the  last  of  tho 
ancient  race  of  great  men,  holds  up  the  lights  of  fifteen 
centuries'  experience  to  verify  the  words  of  the  poet." 

These  specimens  will  show  that  in  literary  taste  and 
culture,  tho  scholar  was  scarcely  inferior  to  the  jurist. 


646  ASHUR   WARE. 

Ill  1820,  Judge  "Ware  was  appointed  by  the  State  one  of 
the  trustees  of  Bowdoin  College,  which  office  he  held 
twenty-four  years.  In  1837,  that  institution  very  properly 
conferred  upon  him  the  honorary  degree  of  LL.  D.  In 
addition  to  the  several  offices  above  alluded  to.  Judge  Ware 
was  President,  several  years,  of  the  Portland  Athenajum ; 
President  of  the  Androscoggin  and  Kennebec  Railroad  Com- 
pany ;  the  first  President  of  Casco  Bunk,  in  1825  ;  and 
many  years  a  director  in  the  Bank  of  Cumberland.  But 
his  tastes  and  pursuits  were  not  of  a  financial  character : 
they  delighted  most  in  law  and  in  general  literature,  with 
both  of  which  his  mind  and  spirit  were  deeply  imbued. 

In  1831,  Judge  Ware  married  Sarah  Morgridge,  who  has 
ever  since  continued  his  cherished  companion,  and  borne 
liim  three  children,  a  son  and  two  daughters.  The  son 
wears  the  ancestral  name,  Joseph,  is  a  graduate  of  Bowdoin 
College  in  the  class  of  1851,  and  is  a  lawyer  by  profession. 


APPENDIX. 


EARLY     CLERKS    AND     SHERIFFS. 


Haviko  treated  largely  of  the  gentlemen  of  the  bar  in  the  preceding 
pages,  I  deemed  it  not  improper  that  those  who  attended  upon  them  faith- 
fully in  the  courts  for  many  years,  should  still  accompany  them  in  this  his- 
torical procession.  I  therefore  give  brief  notices  of  the  early  clerks  and 
sheriffs. 

The  clerks  T\'ere  strictly  officers  of  the  courts  :  they  were  the  custodians 
of  their  decrees,  their  judgments,  and  records.  They  were  uniformly,  and 
by  law,  appointed  by  the  respective  courts.  In  the  statute  of  1639,  estab- 
lishing the  County  Court,  the  court  was  authorized  to  appoint  its  clerk  ;  and 
so,  when  the  Superior  Court  was  constituted  under  the  charter  of  1G91,  the 
same  authority  was  given  to  that  tribunal ;  and  all  the  courts,  by  the  statutes 
creating  them,  were  empowered  to  make  rules  and  orders  for  the  proceed- 
ings therein.  They  all  continued  to  exercise  the  power  of  apijointing  their 
own  clerks  until  1811,  when  that  authority  was  transferred,  for  a  brief  period, 
to  the  governor  and  council.  In  January,  1814,  it  was  restored  by  statute 
to  the  courts.  On  the  organization  of  the  State  of  Maine,  the  power  was 
given  to  the  Ex,ecutive,  and  continued  in  him  until  1842,  when  the  office  was 
made  elective  for  a  term  of  years,  —  first,  four  years,  and^by  the  last  statute 
on  the  subject,  1855,  it  was  limited  to  three  years. 


CLERKS   OF   THE   COURTS, 


DANIEL  SEWALL SAMUEL   FREEMAN JONATHAN  BOWMAN WILLIAM 

ALLEN JOIIX  II.  SHEPPARD HENRY  SEWALL OFFICERS  OF  THE 

COURTS    OF    THE  UNITED    STATES    FROM  THEIR   ORGANIZATION. 


DANIEL       SEWALL. 

There  are  few  things  so  noticeable  in  the  usages  of  our  courts  and  of  the 
past  times,  as  the  long  periods  for  which  the  officers  and  the  attendants  upon 
the  courts  held  their  appointments.  When  once  a  man  succeeded  to  an 
office,  he  felt  secure  of  its  tenure,  and  could  make  the  arrangements  of  his 
business  with  a  comfortable  degree  of  certainty.  And  not  only  so,  but  the 
multiplication  of  offices  in  the  same  hands  was  a  common  fact,  and  indicated 
that  the  number  of  persons  qualified  for  their  discharge  was  quite  limited, 
or  else  there  were  not  so  many  persons  ready  to  serve  their  countr}*  as  mod- 
ern times  have  turned  up.  For  instance,  in  the  county  of  York,  John  Wheel- 
wright was  thirty  years  Judge  of  Probate  and  of  the  Common  Pleas ;  Simon 
Frost  was  Register  of  Probate,  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and 
Register  of  Deeds  twenty  years,  or  thereabout,  from  the  middle  of  the  last 
century.  Daniel  Sewall  was  thirty  seven  years  Register  of  Probate,  and 
about  thirty  years  Clerk  of  the  Courts.  Ichabod  Goodwin  was  Sheriff 
twenty-seven  years.  In  Cumberland  and  Lincoln  Counties,  the  names  of 
Freeman  and  Bowman  as  judges,  clerks,  and  registers,  and  Cushing,  Waite, 
and  Bridge  as  sheriffs,  are  coeval  with  the  establishment  of  the  counties, 
and  run  into  the  present  century.  I  propose  to  speak  of  these  time-honored 
public  servants,  that  the  court  and  the  bar  upon  which  they  so  long  attended, 
should  still  be  accompanied  by  them  in  the  retirement  of  these  pages. 

Mr.  Sewall  was  born  in  York,  Maine,  March  28, 1755,  and  was  a  descendant 
in  the  fifth  generation,  from  Henry  Sewall,  the  first  of  the  name  who  came 


DANIEL   SEWALL.  649 

to  America.  That  ancestor  was  the  son  of  Henry,  Mayor  of  Coventry,  and 
arrived  at  Newbury  in  1634,  at  the  age  of  twenty  years.  The  descent  from 
him  is  derived  throuf?h  his  second  son,  John,  who  married  Hannah  Fessen- 
den  of  Cambridge  ;  Nicholas,  their  son,  wlio  married  Mehitabel,  daughter  of 
Samuel  Storer ;  and  Henry,  son  of  Nicholas.  Henry  was  the  father  of  General 
Henry  of  Augusta  ;  Daniel,  the  subject  of  our  notice,  and  the  Rev.  Jothara, 
commonly  called  "  Father  Sewall;  " — all  these  spent  their  lives  and  died  in 
Maine  at  very  advanced  ages  ;  viz.,  Henry,  in  1845,  aged  ninety-two  ;  Daniel, 
in  1842,  aged  eighty-seven ;  and  Jotham,  in  Chesterville,  1850,  aged  ninety. 
Their  father  was  a  brother  of  Stephen  Sewall,  the  learned  and  honored  Pro- 
fessor of  Hebrew  in  Harvard  College,  from  1765  to  1785,  and  cousin  of 
David,  the  upright  judge  of  the  District  Court  of  Maine.  He  was  by  trade 
a  mason,  and  carried  on  a  farm  on  which  his  son  Daniel  labored,  in  connec- 
tion with  his  trade  as  a  joiner,  during  his  minority.  The  three  brothers 
above  mentioned  were  in  the  fifth  degree  of  descent  from  the  first  Henry  of 
Newbury. 

Daniel  had  great  facility  of  application,  which,  united  to  a  vigorous  mind 
aud  industrious  habits,  enabled  him  to  accomplish  a  large  amount  of  useful 
and  honorable  labor.  He  was  a  farmer,  a  joiner,  a  school  teacher,  and  was 
awhile  in  the  army  of  the  Revolution,  in  which  his  brother  Henry  honorably 
served  during  the  war.  In  all  that  he  did,  he  was  accurate  and  faithful:  he 
did  not  slight  himself  in  improving  the  opportunities  which  were  offered 
him,  meager  though  they  were,  to  cultivate  his  mind  :  he  made  special  ad- 
vances in  mathematical  studies,  to  whicli  he  was  addicted  through  life.  He 
became  a  practical  surveyor,  and  his  services  were  often  employed  in  this 
branch. 

He  devoted  all  his  leisure  hours  to  mental  culture,  and  obtained  a  good 
knowledge  of  the  most  important  English  branches.  Before  the  close  of 
the  war  of  the  Revolution,  he  employed  himself  in  making  calculations  for 
the  astronomical  department  of  almanacs.  These  were  contained  in  the  series 
published  by  John  Melcher  in  Portsmouth,  New  Hampshire.  Sometimes  he 
assumed  the  name  of  Isaac  Bickerstaff,  Jr.,  Bickerstaff  being  the  name 
imder  which  a  popular  almanac  had  long  been  known.  He  continued  this 
employment  many  years,  and  furnished  to  those  invaluable  annuals  a  large 
amount  of  useful  mathematical  information.  What  is  condensed  on  a  page 
required  many  hours  of  careful  study  to  prepare.  His  son  William  acquired 
taste  and  skill  in  the  same  path,  which  he  used  at  a  future  period. 

Mr.  Sewall  also  engaged  in  the  practice  of  law  so  far  as  to  fill  writs,  and 
to  attend  to  other  duties  of  the  profession  outside  of  the  court  room.  This 
was  common  in  all  the  counties  while  regular  lawyers  were  few  and  scat- 
tered :  persons  who  were  familiar  with  legal  proceedings,  , especially  clerks 
and  sheriffs,  were  employed  in  such  cases :  the  regularly  admitted  attornies 
entered  and  took  charge  of  the  actions  in  court,  until  prevented  by  a  strin- 
gent prohibitory  law. 
42 


650  DANIEL   SEWALL. 

In  March,  1783,  Mr.  Sewall  was  appointed  by  Governor  Hancock  Register 
of  Probate  for  York  County,  and  held  the  office  uninterruptedly  until  1820, 
a  period  of  thirty-seven  years.     While  holding  that  office,  he  was  appointed, 
in  November,  1792,  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  having  been  an 
assistant  to  the  i)revious  clerk,  Timothy  Frost,  eleven  years.     His  first  con- 
tract with  Frost  was  to  work  for  him,  from  sun  to  sun,  for  a  shilling  a  day  ; 
proof  of  the  cheapness  of  labor  and  the  dearness  of  money.     When,  by  the 
law  of  March,  1797,  the  clerks  of  the  Common  Pleas  were  constituted,  in  most 
of  the  counties,  recording  clerks  of  the  Supreme  Court,  he  received  that  ap- 
pointment for  York  County,  and  held  the  offices  until  1820,  with  the  excep- 
tion of  1811,  when  a  general  sweep  was  made  by  Governor  Gerry  of  all  the 
old  office-holders,  and  their  places  supplied  with  the  supporters  of  his  ad- 
ministration,    Jeremiah  Bradbury  was  appointed  to  the  office,  and  held  it 
one  year,  when  Mr.  Sewall  was  restored  by  Governor  Gore.     The  separation 
of  Maine  from  Massachusetts  produced  a  general  change  in  the  incumbents 
of  office,  and  the  modes  of  administration.     The  tenure  became  more  uncer- 
tain, as  it  was  subject  to  the  fluctuations  of  party,  which  was  ever  changing 
in  the  State  :  the  doctrine  of  rotation  acquired  great  popularity  with  those 
•who  were  out  of  office  and  seeking  to  be  in  :  the  outs  constituted  the  ma- 
jority, and  were  incessant  in  pressing  their  claims  to  be  in.     The  system,  we 
cannot  look  upon  but  as  mischievous  to  the  best  interests  of  the  people,  as 
tending  constantly  to  introduce  into  the  service  persons  without  experience, 
and  often  with  doubtful  qualifications  ;  and  M'hen  they  have  acquired  famili- 
arity with  their  duties,  they  must  give  place  to  others  who  are  eager  for  the 
emoluments. 

In  1792,  while  holding  the  offices  of  register  and  clerk,  he  was  appointed 
by  the  Postmaster  General,  the  honored  and  honest  Timothy  Pickering, 
postmaster  at  York,  an  office  which  he  held  and  faithfully  filled  about  fifteen 
years,  thus  holding  three  good  offices  at  the  same  time.  But  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  compensation  derived  from  office  was  much  less  at  that 
period  than  the  present,  and  the  business  much  smaller.  As  an  offset,  how- 
ever, to  that,  the  expenses  of  living  were  proportionably  less,  and  the  habits 
of  the  people  were  more  frugal.  Luxury  and  extravagance  had  not  then 
manifested  themselves  to  any  considerable  degree  in  our  District. 

In  1815,  Mr.  Sewall  moved  from  York  to  Keunebunk.  In  1820,  on  the 
reorganization  of  the  courts  by  the  new  State,  the  old  incumbents  of  office 
were  set  aside,  and  their  places  filled  by  a  younger  generation.  George 
Thacher  of  Saco,  son  of  the  judge,  succeeded  to  the  office  of  register  of 
probate,  and  Jeremiah  Bradbury  of  York  to  that  of  clerk  of  the  courts. 
Mr.  Sewall,  now  at  the  age  of  seventy-five,  having  occupied  responsible  offi- 
cial stations  thirty-seven  years,  retired  upon  a  competency  to  the  calm  en- 
joyments of  his  cheerful  and  happy  family  circle,  and  his  books,  which  had 


DANIEL  SEWALL:   SAMUEL  FREEMAN.  651 

been  the  refreshment  and  strength  of  his  youth  and  manhood,  and  were  the 

solace  of  his  old  ajfe. 

Mr.  Sewall  married  Dorcas  Bartlett,  daughter  of  John  H.  Bartlett  of  Kit- 
tery,  by  whom  he  had  one  son,  William  Bartlett,  of  whom  we  have  before 
spoken,  and  seven  daughters,  one  of  whom  married  Mark  Langdon  Hill  of 
Phippsburg.  He  died  October  14,  1842,  aged  eighty-seven  years  and  nearly 
seven  months.     His  widow  died  within  five  months  after,  aged  eighty-four. 

In  a  notice  of  this  most  worthy  and  venerable  man,  published  in  the  Amer- 
ican Almanac  of  1844,  it  is  remarked  :  "  The  confidence  constantly  reposed 
in  his  ability,  of  wliich  he  received  so  many  marks,  was  justified  by  the  dili- 
gent and  faithful  performance  of  every  trust.  He  was  a  man  of  remarkable 
industry  and  punctuality,  of  singular  fidelity,  probity,  and  perseverance  ; 
possessed  of  great  moral  courage  and  firmness,  not  unmixed,  perhaps,  with 
some  of  those  peculiar  traits  that  strike  the  present  generation  as  belonging 
to  the  character  and  manners  of  the  old  Puritan.  To  that  constancy  of  self- 
reliance,  energy,  and  determination  which  constituted  such  marked  points 
in  his  character,  he  joined  a  firm  and  unwavering  trust  in  the  overruling  ad- 
ministration of  an  all-wise  and  good  Providence,  which  enabled  him  to  over- 
come difficulties  and ;  obstacles,  and  carried  him  successfully  through  the 
course  of  a  long,  respectable,  and  useful  life." 

SAMUEL     FREEMAN. 

The  case  of  Samuel  Freeman^  was  more  extraordinary  than  that  of  Mr. 
Sewall,  for  he  held  more  offices  and  held  them  longer.  Mr.  Freeman  was 
born  in  that  part  of  Falmouth  which  is  now  Portland,  June  15,  1743 :  and 
if  his  family  was  not  so  illustrious  as  the  Sewalls,  though  sufficiently  so, 
yet  it  was  more  ancient  in  America,  being  among  the  first  settlers  of  Massa- 
chusetts, four  years  prior  to  the  coming  of  Henry  Sewall.  His  first  Ameri- 
can ancestor,  from  whom  he  was  of  the  fifth  degree,  came  from  Devonshire 
and  settled  in  Watertown  in  1630 ;  and  he  was  the  great-great-grandfather 
of  Samuel  Freeman  of  Portland.  The  first  Samuel  moved  from  Watertown 
to  Eastham  in  Plymouth  County,  and  after  his  death  his  widow  married 
Governor  Thomas  Prince  of  that  colony.  Enoch,  the  father  of  Samuel  of 
Portland,  was  the  eighth  son  and  ninth  child  of  Samuel,  the  grandson  of  the 
first  immigrant,  and  was  born  in  Eastham,  May  19,  170G.  He  was  educated 
at  Harvard  College,  from  which  he  took  his  degree  in  1729,  and  in  a  short 
time  after  entered  the  house  of  Mr.  Hall,  a  merchant  in  Boston,  as  clerk, 
and  in  1732,  became  a  partner.  His  employment  called  him  occasionally  to 
Maine,  and  his  observation  led  him  to  choose  Portland  as  the  future  place  of 
his  residence,  to  which  ho  moved  about  1742.  His  education  and  enterprise 
soon  gave  him  a  prominent  position  in  this  infant  community,  and  oflices  ac- 


652  SAMUEL  FREEMAN. 

cumulated  upon  him  with  fearful  rapidity,  as  we  should  consider  at  the 
present  time.  He  was  appointed  in  1748  to  the  command  of  the  forces  on  the 
eastern  frontier,  and  in  successive  years  held  the  offices  of  justice  of  the 
peace,  naval  officer,  collector  of  the  port,  four  years  representative  to  the 
General  Court,  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  on  the  organization  of  the 
county,  and  register  of  deeds,  which  two  last  offices  he  held  together  twenty- 
nine  years,  and  in  1770,  judge  of  probate  ;  and  he  also,  by  way  of  variety, 
practiced  law,  before  any  regular  practitioners  settled  in  the  county.  To 
illustrate  my  remark  before  made,  relative  to  the  multiplication  of  offices  in 
the  same  hands,  I  cannot  have  a  better  example  than  that  before  me :  Enoch 
Freeman,  at  one  and  the  same  time,  held  the  following  offices :  judge  of  the 
Common  Pleas,  judge  of  probate,  register  of  deeds,  colonel  of  the  eastern 
regiment,  selectman,  and  representative  to  the  General  Court.  What  a  day 
was  that  for  office-Iioldcrs  ! 

His  son  Samuel  rivaled  him  in  this  respect,  as  we  shall  see  before  we  con- 
clude our  notice  of  hira.  He  received  the  best  education  the  village  afforded, 
and  that  is  saying  considerable,  when  we  remember  that  the  first  Stephen 
Longfellow,  who  came  to  Portland,  and  who  graduated  at  Harvard  the  year 
before  Mr.  Freeman  was  born,  kept  the  grammar  school  from  which  he  im- 
bibed his  early  lessons.  After  leaving  school,  he  himself  engaged  in  school 
keeping  and  also  in  trade,  and  connected  with  these  the  practice  of  law,  which 
he  pursued  to  a  considerable  extent,  as  his  father  and  several  other  unadmitted 
gentlemen  in  different  parts  of  the  Province  as  well  as  in  Massachusetts  had 
been  in  the  habit  of  doing.  This  annoyed  the  regular  practitioners,  who, 
having  passed  through  a  long  and  expensive  course  of  preparation  for  the 
proper  discharge  of  the  duties  of  their  profession,  were  not  pleased  to  have 
their  compensation  abridged,  or  the  honor  of  their  profession  degraded  by 
the  blunders  of  uneducated  men.  And  they  adopted  restrictive  rules  in 
difTerent  counties  on  the  subject.  At  a  term  of  the  court  held  in  October, 
1770,  at  York,  "  by  the  barristers  and  attornies  practicing  in  that  county," 
the  following  rule  was  adopted :  "  We,  the  said  barristers  and  attornies, 
thinking  it  detrimental  to  the  public  that  persons,  not  regularly  admitted 
and  sworn  as  attornies,  should  be  countenanced  by  us,  do  agree  that  we  will 
not  enter,  argue,  or  in  any  manner  assist,  in  the  prosecution  of  causes  where 
the  writs  shall  be  drawn  by  any  person  not  regularly  admitted  and  sworn, 
except  in  cases  of  necessity,  which  are  to  be  judged  of  by  the  majority  of 
the  gentlemen  of  the  bar  present  at  term  time." 

This  rule,  rigidly  enforced  and  sustained  by  the  court,  had  the  effect  to 
check,  if  not  entirely  stop,  the  outside  practice,  and  seriously  impaired  the 
gains  of  Mr.  Freeman  and  others  who  had  been  largely  employed  in  the 
business  in  consequence  of  their  fees  being  much  less  than  those  of  the  reg- 
ular lawyers.  Mr.  Freeman  expressed  his  indignation  through  the  public 
press :  he  said,  "  I  am  the  more  influenced  to  address  the  public  in  this  man- 


SAMUEL  FREEMAN  :  BAR  RULES :  COURT  ENTRIES.   653 

ner  and  on  this  subject,  as  I  was  employed  at  our  last  Superior  Court  to 
assist  a  widow,  whose  late  husband's  estate  she  emploj'ed  me  to  settle,  and 
on  that  account  had  an  action  there,  which  the  lawyers  refused  to  manage 
because  I  drew  tlie  writ.  But  what  seems  more  hard  and  oppressive,  their 
Honors  would  not  allow  me  to  plead  the  case  myself,  but  even  said  I  in- 
sulted them,  when  I  requested  permission  to  do  it,  in  behalf  of  the  widow." 

Bar  rules  were  adopted  in  Essex  County  in  1768,  and  are  contained  in  the 
records  of  the  Suffolk  County  Bar,  in  the  handwriting  of  John  Adams, 
second  Piesident  of  the  United  States,  who  took  great  interest  in  the  subject, 
having  been  vexed,  in  his  early  practice  at  Braintree,  by  the  evil  generation 
of  irregular  practitioners.  Tliey  had  been  previously  adopted  in  Boston, 
and  contained  one  similar  to  that  now  quoted  from  York  County. 

In  the  preliminary  movements  of  the  people  previous  to  the  commence- 
ment of  hostilities  with  Great  Britain,  Mr.  Freeman  took  an  active  part.  In 
1774,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  committee  of  correspondence  of  the  town, 
and  a  general  meeting  of  these  committees  was  held  in  Falmouth  in  Sep- 
tember of  that  year,  of  which  his  father  was  appointed  chairman,  and  him- 
self clerk.  The  next  year,  he  was  elected  sole  delegate  from  Falmouth  to 
the  Provincial  Congress,  and  was  appointed  its  secretary  for  that  and  the 
two  succeeding  years,  at  the  same  time  representing  his  town  in  the  Assem- 
bly for  the  years  1776  and  1778. 

In  1775,  while  holding  a  seat  in  the  Congress  and  secretary  of  that  body, 
he  received  the  appointment  of  Register  of  Probate,  and  Clerk  of  the  County 
Court  for  Cumberland  County,  in  both  which  courts  his  father  was  judge. 
The  office  of  register  he  held  thirty  years,  and  was  then  appointed  judge  of 
that  court,  which  he  continued  to  hold  to  the  time  of  separation,  being  forty- 
six  years  steady  service  in  that  court.  The  clerkship  of  the  Common  Pleas 
Court  he  held  to  the  same  period,  with  the  exception  of  1811,  when  his 
place  was  filled  by  Joseph  C.  Boyd,  appointed  by  Governor  Gerry.  The 
fees  of  the  clerkship,  as  he  himself  stated,  were  very  small  at  first :  in  1776, 
they  amounted  to  only  fifteen  dollars ;  and  for  the  first  twenty  years  but  to 
an  average  of  one  hundred  and  twenty-three  dollars  a  year.  The  last  fifteen 
years,  the  average  was  one  thousand  nine  hundred  and  seventy-five  dollars  a 
year  ;  and  in  1808,  a  year  of  extraordinary  business,  they  were  four  thousand 
and  eighty  dollars.  Tlie  number  of  entries  of  actions  in  different  years,  dur- 
ing this  period,  were  as  follows  ;  viz., 


1776,    -    -    -  9. 

1794,    -    -      267. 

1814,  -    -      879. 

1780,  -    -    -  20. 

1798,      -    -    468. 

1818,    -    -  1224. 

1783,     -    -    162. 

1801,    -    -    -  867. 

1820,  -     -     1396. 

1785,  -     -      106. 

1803,      -    -  1277. 

1831,     -     -     888. 

1788,      -    -     52. 

1808,    -     -      2293. 

1810,  -     -     1389. 

The  fees  were  divided. 

until  the  separation, 

between  the  judges  of  the 

Common  Pleas,  the  clerk, 

and  sheriff. 

654  SAMUEL   FREEMAN  :   POST-OFFICE  AND   MAILS. 

The  same  year,  1776,  which  was  a  memorable  one  iu  his  Hfe,  as  it  was  in 
the  annals  of  the  country,  Mr.  Freeman  was  appointed  postmaster  of  Fal- 
mouth, which  office  he  held  twenty-nine  years,  and  when  he  was  removed 
by  Mr.  Jefferson,  he  thought  it  a  most  unrighteous  decree,  and  loudly  pro- 
tested against  it,  as  did  a  majority  of  his  townsmen.  The  mail  was  sent  but 
once  a  week  from  Boston  to  Portland  from  June,  1775,  to  January,  1789, 
and  was  very  irregular,  being  brought  by  a  carrier  on  horseback  :  from 
1789,  it  was  sent  three  times  a  week.  As  late  as  1790,  a  letter  was  sixteen 
days  coming  from  Philadelphia,  thirteen  from  New  York,  and  three  from 
Boston.  Mr.  Freeman's  [income  from  the  postoffice,  for  several  years,  was 
as  follows :  in  1776,  two  pounds,  three  shillings,  six  pence,  lawful  money ; 
in  .1779,  sixteen  shillings,  four  pence  ;  in  1780,  eight  shillings,  four  pence  ; 
in  1785,  ten  pounds,  three  shillings,  which  was  the  highest  for  the  first 
eleven  years  ;  the  aggregate  for  the  eleven  years  was  forty  pounds,  two  shil- 
lings, five  pence.  The  first  year,  the  letters  did  not  average  five  a  week  ;  in 
1783,  the  number  was  fifty-seven,  and  continued  regularly  to  increase  :  the 
postage  ranged  from  five  and  a  quarter  pence  to  thirteen  pence  on  a  letter. 

The  confidence  of  his  fellow-citizens  in  this  estimable  man  was  no  less  than 
that  of  the  government.  In  1781,  he  was  chosen  deacon  of  the  church  of 
the  First  Parish,  and  continued  in  the  office  about  forty-five  years,  to  near 
the  close  of  his  life.  In  1788,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  selectmen  of  the 
town,  and  with  the  exception  of  one  year,  was  chosen  twenty-five  years,  in 
many  of  which  he  served  as  chairman.  In  1802,  on  the  establishment  of  the 
Maine  Bank  in  Portland,  the  first,  and  for  several  years  the  only  one  in  the 
State,  he  was  elected  its  president,  and  continued  several  years  faithfully 
and  intelligently  to  discharge  the  responsible  duties  of  the  office.  lie  was  also 
a  number  of  years  one  of  the  overseers  of  Bowdoin  College,  and  president 
of  the  board  from  1816  to  1819  :  he  was,  also,  a  trustee  and  treasurer  of  the 
college.  In  addition  to  these  various  and  responsible  occupations,  he  was 
actively  employed  as  a  magistrate  in  the  trial  of  civil  and  criminal  causes, 
performing  the  duties  which  are  now  devolved  upon  the  Municipal  Court. 
The  following  curious  paper,  drawn  up  by  him  in  1797,  at  the  age  of  fifty- 
four,  has  come  into  my  hands,  and  furnishes  authentic  information  as  to 
his  offices  :  "  Minutes  of  the  diflerent  kinds  of  business  in  which  I  am  en- 
gaged, September,  1797.  Official,  as  Justice  of  the  Peace  ;  Register  of  Pro- 
bate ;  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  ;  Clerk  of  the  Court  of  General 
Sessions;  Postmaster;  Selectman;  one  of  the  School  Committee ;  Clerk  of 
the  Proprietors  of  Sufferers'  Townships  ;  one  of  the  Committee  of  the  Pro- 
prietors to  settle  the  towns,  ditto  to  purchase  land  for  settlers  ;  Treasurer  of 
Bowdoin  College  ;  Committee  to  sell  townships  granted  to  said  college ; 
Clerk  of  four  eastern  townships,  [Narraguagus  lands] ;  Agent  for  ditto ;  Com- 
mittee for  building  the  jail ;  Parish  Connnittee  and  Assessor ;  Secretary  of 
the  Portland  Academy;  Committee  to  sell  lands  iu  Staudish  ;  Administrator 
and  Guardian  in  several  cases." 


SAMUEL   FREEMAN.  655 

Who  ever  held  so  many  and  such  a  variety  of  offices  at  one  time,  before  1 
Yet  we  are  assured,  and  partly  know,  from  our  own  observation,  that  no 
duty  in  any  of  them  escaped  his  attention  or  was  neglected.  He  was  the 
most  industrious  of  men,  and  the  most  exact  and  faithful.  Long  experience 
had  given  him  great  versatility  and  facility;  and  a  firm  constitution,  regular 
habits,  and  persevering  labor  enabled  him  to  discharge  all  his  responsible 
and  arduous  duties  with  fidelity  and  correctness.  And  at  this  time  he  em- 
ployed himself  in  preparing  works  for  publication,  which  his  office  showed 
him  to  be  needed,  and  which  proved  to  be  exceedingly  useful  to  the  profes- 
sion and  others.  These  were  the  Town  Officer,  Clerk's  Assistant,  a  Probate 
Manual,  and  Justice's  Assistant,  At  tliat  time,  there  were  no  books  of  forms 
suited  to  the  wants  of  our  community  ;  and  these  works,  skillfully  prepared 
by  Mr.  Freeman,  and  adapted  to  tlie  various  business  of  the  day,  had  a  very 
extensive  circulation,  and  passed  through  several  editions.  His  last  work, 
undertaken  when  he  was  near  eighty  years  old,  was  the  editing  the  journal 
of  his  venerable  pastor,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Smith,  who  was  his  minister  fifty 
years,  whose  deacon  he  was  fourteen  years,  and  his  devoted  friend.  The 
journal  passed  through  a  period  of  sixty-eight  years  ;  was  written  in  a  small 
hand,  often  with  abbreviations,  the  study  of  which,  and  the  copying  and 
preparation  of  accompanying  statistics,  would  liave  been  a  severe  task  for  a 
young  man,  yet  was  well  and  ably  accomplished,  and  published  in  a  duodeci- 
mo volume  in  1821.  To  show  the  facility  he  had  acquired  in  the  execution  of 
his  varied  tasks,  I  have  been  told  that  in  his  probate  duties  and  clerk  duties, 
he  would  add  up  a  long  column  of  figures  with  accuracy  almost  as  rapidly  as 
he  could  run  his  eye  over  it ;  and  he  would  pass  from  one  kind  of  business 
to  another  without  pause  and  without  any  relaxation  of  his  mind,  as  if  pur- 
suing the  same  current  of  mental  operation. 

In  his  private  and  domestic  life,  he  was  distinguished  for  uniform  kindness 
and  conscientiousness.  It  was  based  iipou  religious  principle,  deeply  in- 
grained by  circumspection  and  habit.  In  1773,  he  united  himself  with  the 
church  of  the  First  Parish,  at  the  age  of  thirty,  and  ever  remained  a  con- 
stant and  consistent  member.  In  1777,  he  married  Mary  Fowle  of  Water- 
town,  Mass.,  by  whom  he  had  one  daughter  and  two  sons, — Samuel  Deane  and 
William.  The  sons  were  educated  at  Harvard,  Samuel  in  1800,  and  were 
good  scholars.  William  graduated  in  1804,  was  a  member  of  the  Phi-Beta- 
Kappa  Society,  and  delivered  a  poem  at  Commencement,  He  studied  law 
with  Mr.  Symmes  in  Portland,  was  admitted  to  practice,  but  was  led  oflf  to 
other  pursuits.  He  is  a  man  of  fine  character,  hterary  taste,  ability,  and 
talents,  and  is  still  living  at  Narraguagus,  where  he  originally  was  induced 
to  settle  by  the  large  ownership  of  his  father  in  lands  there,  Samuel  be- 
came deranged,  and  died  in  1831, 

Mrs,  Freeman  died  in  1785,  and  the  next  year  Mr,  Freeman  married  Betty, 
daughter  of  Enocli  Ilsley,  and  widow  of  Pearson  Jones,  by  whom  he  had 
six  children,  three  sons  and  three  daughters.     One  daughter,  Charlotte,  the 


656  SAMUEL  FREEMAN:   JONATHAN   BOWMAN. 

wife  of  the  Rev.  John  Boynton,  only  survives.  Charles,  first  a  law'yer,  after- 
wards a  worthy  clergyman,  was  settled  in  Limerick,  and  died  there  in  1853. 
George  was  a  very  promising  law  student  in  Portland,  and  died  in  1815,  aged 
nineteen.  They  were  both  graduates  of  Bowdoin  in  the  class  of  1812.  Not 
one  representative  of  this  old  and  most  respected  family  remains  in  Portland, 
the  seat,  for  near  ninety  years,  of  their  usefulness  and  honor.  Mr.  Free- 
man died  June  15,  1831,  at  the  close  of  the  eighty-eighth  year  of  his  age. 
He  was  tall  and  erect  in  his  person,  of  a  good  figure,  and  a  grave  but  be- 
nevolent countenance.  His  nose  was  large,  considerably  broad,  and  gave  a 
dignified  and  manly  expression  to  his  face.  His  eyesight  continued  good 
to  the  last,  never  having  had  occasion  to  use  spectacles.  He  continued  to 
wear  breeches  and  shoes  and  buckles,  to  the  last,  and  the  old-fashioned 
buckled  stock  around  his  neck :  he  discontinued  the  wig,  cocked  hat,  and 
expansive  coat  and  waistcoat  when  everybody  else  left  them  off.  AVe  find  a 
memorandum  on  his  father's  account  book,  which  shows  that  before  he  was 
ten  years  old,  his  head  was  shaved  to  receive  the  wig,  the  indispensable  ap- 
pendage of  that  day. 

Mr.  Freeman  was  an  inveterate  snuff-taker :  he  used  to  take  immoderate 
quantities  before  he  left  the  clerk's  office,  putting  the  favorite  powder  in  his 
hand  and  stuffing  it  up  his  nose.  One  day.  Solicitor  General  Davis  called  at 
the  clerk's  office  for  some  papers,  on  which  Mr.  Freeman  took  out  his  snuff- 
box and  began  his  usual  draft,  when  Davis,  impatient,  cried  out,  "  Come, 
come,  Mr.  Freeman,  get  me  the  papers  and  I'll  shove  up  the  snuff." 

In  all  his  other  duties  and  labors  he  never  forgot  the  claims  of  charity : 
he  was  a  leader  in  all  the  benevolent  institutions  as  well  as  of  education,  in 
the  town,  as  long  as  he  was  able  to  attend  their  meetings  or  aid  their  efforts. 
And  he  did  not  go  with  his  hand  and  heart  shut,  but  open  as  melting  charity. 
He  was  not  content  to  give  his  services  only,  but  his  money  followed  in  the 
same  direction.  Take  him  for  all  in  all,  Portland  never  had  a  better  citizen, 
and  it  might  be  said,  "  We  shall  never  see  his  like  again." 

• 
JONATHANBOWMAN. 

No  place  in  Maine,  previous  to  the  Revolution,  was  so  distinguished  for  Its 
able  and  talented  young  men  as  Pownalboro'.  It  was  a  large  town,  extend- 
ing from  the  Kennebec  to  Sheepscot  ^River,  and  embracing  what  are  now 
the  towns  of  Dresden,  Alna,  Wiscasset,  and  Perkins,  that  is,  Swan's  Island. 
It  was  incorporated  February  13,  1760,  and  named  in  honor  of  Governor 
Pownal,  who  was  about  retiring  from  the  office  which  he  had  acceptably 
filled  from  1757  to  1760.'     Among  these  young  men,  who  commenced  life 

'  Samuel  Bridge,  a  eon  of  Samuel  and  grandson  of  the  old  gherifl  Bridge,  has  recently  pro- 
Bented  to  his  native  town,  Dresden,  an  admirable  portrait  of  Governor  Pownal  for  itn  town 
hall.  Ho  has  also  made  the  liberal  donation  of  a  similar  copy  to  the  State,  to  be  placed  in 
the  rotunda  of  the  Capitol  at  Augusta. 


JONATHAN  BOWMAN:   POWNALBORO'.  657 

in  that  remote  part  of  civilzation,  were  Rev.  Jacob  Bailey,  the  "  Frontier 
Missionary"  of  the  Church  of  England;  William,  Charles,  and  Roland  Cush- 
ing;  Dr.  Thomas  Rice;  Timothy  Langdon  ;  Edmund  Bridge,  the  time-honored 
sheriff;  and  Jonathan  Bowman.  When  the  county  of  Lincoln  was  organ- 
ized, in  November,  17G0,  William  Cushing  was  made  judge  of  probate, 
Charles  Cushing  sheriff,  and  Jonathan  Bowman  register  of  deeds  and  clerk 
of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas.  The  town  then  contained  one  hundred  and 
fifteen  families,  and  Mr.  Bailey,  who  had  been  appointed  a  missionary  to  the 
people  there,  by  the  "  Venerable  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel"  in 
America,  was  the  only  ordained  minister  in  the  new  county.  lie  had  been  to 
London  to  take  orders  and  receive  ordination, 

Jonathan  Bowman  derives  his  descent  from  Nathaniel  Bowman,  who  came 
from  England  in  1630,  probably  in  the  fleet  with  Winthrop.  He  settled  in 
Watertown  first,  then  moved  to  "  Cambridge  Farms,"  now  Lexington,  where 
he  died  January  26,  1682.  By  his  wife  Anne,  he  had  seven  children,  two 
sons  and  five  daughters.  His  eldest  son,  Francis,  married  Martha  Sherman, 
by  whom  he  had  eight  children,  and  died  in  1687 :  his,  Francis's,  fifth  son, 
Joseph,  born  in  1674,  died  in  1762,  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight,  having  had 
by  his  wife  Phebe,  thirteen  children.  Jonathan,  the  fourth  of  this  large 
family,  was  the  father  of  the  subject  of  our  sketch.  He  was  born  in  Lex- 
ington, February  23,  1704  ;  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1724  ;  was  set- 
tled in  the  ministry  at  Dorchester,  Massachusetts,  November  5,  1729,  and 
died  there  March  30,  1775.  His  wife  was  Hannah,  a  daughter  of  the  Rev. 
John  Hancock  of  Lexington,  grandfather  of  Governor  John  Hancock,  by 
whom  he  had  seven  children.  Two  of  his  sons,  Jonathan  and  William,  grad- 
uated at  Harvard  College,  Jonathan  in  1755,  and  William  in  1764  :  the  lat- 
ter, born  in  1744,  settled  in  Iloxbury,  filling  many  useful  and  honorable- 
stations  :  he  married  Lucy,  a  daughter  of  Governor  Increase  Sumner,  and 
sister  of  the  late  General  William  II.  Sumner,  and  died  in  1818.  His  son 
William,  was  an  officer  in  Colonel  Miller's  regiment  on  the  frontier,  and  dis- 
tinguished himself  in  the  war  of  1812. 

Jonathan  was  born  in  Dorchester,  December  8,  1735 :  in  his  class  at  col- 
lege were  William  Browne,  the  refugee  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Mas- 
sachusetts ;  John  Wentworth,  the  refugee  Governor  of  New  Hampshire  ;  the 
patriot  judge,  David  Sewall  of  Maine  ;  the  still  more  distinguished  Presi- 
dent, John  Adams  ;  Charles  Cushing,  first  sheriff  of  Lincoln  ;  and  the  ec- 
centric and  unsophisticated  missionary,  Jacob  Bailey.  How  singular  the 
coincidence,  that  three  classmates,  Bailey,  Bowman,  and  Cushing,  ingenious 
and  well  educated,  should  have  settleil  at  the  same  place,  and  near  the  same 
time,  in  the  wilderness  of  Maine.  One  thing  led  to  another,  Bailey  first 
went,  William  Cushing  was  already  there,  and  the  others  followed  as  oflice 
was  opened  for  them  under  the  new  county.  When  hostilities  with  the 
mother  country  commenced,  Mr.  Bailey  adhered  to  tho  royal  cause,  and  a 


658       JONATHAN   BOWMAN:   REVOLUTIONARY  TROUBLES. 

bitter  feud  arose  among  these  old  friends,  which  led  to  recrimination  and 
persecution.  Bailey  felt  obliged  to  leave  the  country,  and  sought  refuge  in 
Nova  Scotia  in  1779.  Charles  Gushing  was  seized  at  night  by  a  loyalist 
party,  towards  the  close  of  the  war,  under  John  Jones,  a  violent  tory,  and 
hurried  away  to  the  British  army  at  Castine.  In  July,  1777,  Mr.  Bailey,  in 
a  memorial  signed  by  fifty-four  inhabitants  of  Pownalboro',  well  affected 
toward  the  Church  of  England,  which  had  been  established  there  under 
Bailey,  says,  "  Mr.  Bowman  came  here  in  17G1,  invested  with  several  places 
of  profit  under  government:  Colonel  Cushing  came  and  voluntarily  joined 
with  the  church,  became  a  communicant,  and  was  chosen  warden."  They 
afterwards  became  hostile  to  the  church,  as  Mr.  Bailey  asserts,  charging 
Bowman  and  Cushing  as  the  chief  actors.  He  says  in  the  memorial,  "  Our 
enemies  are  determined  to  ruin  us.  They  have  put  every  churchman  in 
the  list  for  transportation,  even  the  captain  of  the  militia,  a  most  zealous 
friend  for  the  country."  He  adds,  "  The  occasion  of  this  petition  was 
briefly  as  follows :  Mr.  Bowman  seized  the  land  where  the  church  and  par- 
sonage were  erected,  as  the  property  of  Major  Goodwin  ;  and  Cushing,  the 
sheriflP,  coming  suddenly  with  a  number  of  men  to  turn  me  out  of  posses- 
sion, I,  ignorantly,  took  a  short  lease  under  Mr.  Bowman,  which  so  offended 
Dr.  Gardiner,  that  he  declared  that  he  would  apply  to  the  society  for  my 
removal.  Upon  which,  our  people  agreed  to  send  this  petition  to  the  society." 
Again  he  says,  "  I  would  further  remark,  that  Colonel  Cushing  asserts  that 
there  are  no  church  people  in  this  place.  This  is  very  surprising,  when  by 
far  the  majority  of  the  present  inhabitants  have  been  married,  baptized,  and 
received  the  other  sacrament  in  this  church."  In  another  letter,  dated 
August  26,  1778,  Mr.  Bailey  says,  "  Colonel  Cushing  has  declared,  in  the 
most  positive  terms,  that  I  shall  never  officiate  again  in  this  place ;  and  if  I 
attempt  to  transgress  this  mandate,  that  he  will  take  me  out  of  my  house 
with  an  armed  force,  and  commit  me  to  jail."  Mr.  Cushing's  letter  to  him 
of  the  same  date  does  not  sustain  this  charge  so  fully  as  stated :  it  says, 
"  Sir,  I  am  informed  of  your  arrival,  but  have  not  heard  what  your  conclu- 
sion is  respecting  the  oath  of  allegiance  to  the  United  States  of  America. 
I  trust  you  cannot  think  of  residing  here  in  the  exercise  of  your  functions, 
until  you  have  complied  in  taking  said  oath." 

The  persecution  which  Mr.  Bailey  suffered  was  evidently  caused  by  his 
hostility  to  the  Revolutionary  government :  he  utterly  opposed  it,  and  his 
influence  must  have  been  considerable  in  keeping  up  an  agitation  among 
the  people  of  the  town.  He  would  not  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  nor 
abandon  his  loyalty  to  the  king  and  the  church,  nor  leave  the  country. 
Bowman  and  Cushing  were  officials  whoso  duty  it  was  to  preserve  the 
peace,  to  sustain  the  cause  of  the  new  government,  and  enforce  obedience 
to  its  laws.  Whether  they  used  more  harshness  in  this  case  than  was  neces- 
sary, wo  cannot  determine  until  we  hear  from  the  other  side :  it  is  evident 


JONATHAN  BOWMAN  :   LINCOLN  COUNTY.  659 

that  Mr.  Bailey  was  a  pretty  obstinate  subject  to  deal  with,  judging  from  his 
own  presentation  of  the  case,  as  we  find  it  iu  his  manuscript  letters  and 
papers  in  the  hands  of  the  Rev.  William  S.  Perry,  rector  of  St.  Stephen's 
church  in  Portland,  to  whose  kindness  we  are  indebted  for  their  use.  They 
remind  us  of  the  wretched  state  of  things  now  existing  in  this  country, 
where  the  oath  of  allegiance  finds  manj'  a  recusant,  even  in  loyal  or  semi- 
loyal  States. 

Mr.   Bowman,    it  appears,   went  to  Pownalboro'  in   17C0,  with  commis- 
sions in  his  pocket  as  register  of  deeds  and  clerk  of  the  court:  the  register, 
by  the  act  establishing  the  county,  was  to  be  appointed  by  tlie  governor  and 
council,  to  hold  his  office  five  years,  from  February,  17G1,  afterwards  to  be 
elected  by  the  people.     The  clerks  of  the  courts  were   appointed  by  the 
respective  courts.     On  the  organization  of  the  county,  the  officers  were  as 
follows:  Judges  of  theComnwn  Fleas,  Samuel  Denny,  William  Lithgow,  Aaron 
Hinkley,  and  John  North  ;    Judge  of  Probate^  William  Gushing  ;    Register  of 
Probate,  Jonathan  Bowman ;    Sheriff,  Charles  Cushing  ;    Register  of  Deeds, 
Jonathan  Bowman.     He  held  the  office  of  register  of  deeds  until  1781.     In 
1772,  lie  was  appointed  judge  of  probate,  as  successor  to  William  Cushing, 
who  was  promoted  to  the  Superior  Court.     In  this  office,  he  was  recommis- 
sioned  by  Governor  Hancock  in  1781,  and  continued  in  it  until  his  death,  in 
1804, — a  period  of   thirty-two  years.     It  appears  by  the   records  of  the 
courts,  that  Mr.  Bowman  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  Court  of  Sessions, 
March  2,  1761,  and  held  the  office  until  January  12,  1796, — a  period  of  near 
thirty-five  years,  when  he  resigned.     On  May  26,  1761,  he  was  appointed 
clerk  of  the  Common  Pleas,  and  continued  in  the  office  until  1704  :  in  June 
1791,  his  son,  Jonathan  Bowman,  Jr.,  was  appointed  assistant  clerk,  and  so 
continued  until  the  resignation  of  his  father,  when  he  was  made  chief  clerk: 
he  continued  in  the  office  until  September,  1801,  when  Alden  Bradford,  who 
had  been  the   clergyman   in   Wiscasset,   and  was  afterwards  secretary  of 
State  of  Massachusetts,  was  appointed.    During  part  of  the  time,  William 
Bowman,  another  son  of  the  judge,  was  assistant  of  his  brother,  and  after- 
wards chief  clerk  of  the  Court  of  Sessions,     His  son  Thomas  was  the  first 
register   of    probate   in   Kennebec   County,  1799.      It    appears   from   the 
probate  records  of  Lincoln,  that  Jonathan  Bowman  was  register  of  probate 
in  November,  1760,  and  held  the  office  until  Judge  Cushing,  who  had  been 
the  judge  of  probate,  was  elevated  to  the  bench  of  the  Superior  Court,  in 
1772,  when  Mr.  Bowman  became  his  successor.     In  1791,  his  son  Jonathan, 
who  had  graduated  the  year  before,  was  appointed  register  of  probate 
and  held  the  office  until  1803,  when  Bradford  succeeded  him.     Mr.  William- 
son, in  a  note  on  the  organization  of  Lincoln  County,  says  that  William 
Bryant  was  the  first  register :  this  is  not  sustained  by  the  records,  which 
contain  the  name  of  Bowman  as  register  at   that  time.     Jud>;o   Bowman 
accumulated  a  largo  estate  by  his  various  offices  and  speculations.     He 


660  JONATHAN   BOWMAN:    CHARLES   VAUGHAN. 

lived  at  a  beautiful  spot  on  the  eastern  bank  of  tlie  Kennebec,  about  a  mile 
below  the  court-house.  His  house  remains  a  conspicuous  object  to  those 
who  sail  by  on  this  charming  river,  whose  varied  scenery  furnishes  ever  new 
pleasure  to  the  tourist.  He  was  a  man  of  tall  and  commanding  figure. 
Jolm  H.  Sheppard,  Esq.,  the  learned  librarian  of  tlie  New  England  Genea- 
logical Society,  to  whom  I  am  greatly  indebted  for  my  genealogical  and 
many  other  facts,  in  this  and  my  notice  of  Sheriff  Bridge,  thus  speaks  of 
Judge  Bowman:  "He  was  a  man  of  tall  and  striking  appearance:  his 
prominent  features,  silvery  locks,  full  black  suit  with  small  clothes,  silk 
stockings,  and  large  glittering  shoe  buckles,  have  left  their  portrait  on  the 
memory  of  one,  who,  when  a  small  boy,  accompanied  his  father  on  a  visit  to 
the  mansion  of  Judge  Bowman." 

His  speculations  were  not  always  successful :  he  was  concerned  in  the 
great  project  of  Charles  Vaughan,  a  wealthy  merchant  of  Boston,  and  a 
large  proprietor  of  land  on  the  Kennebec ;  who,  in  the  latter  part  of  the 
last  century,  perceiving  the  resources  and  advantages  of  the  Kennebec 
valley,  set  about  to  improve  them,  and  to  give  them  an  ample  development. 
Like  Bingham  and  numerous  other  persons,  whose  familiarity  with  the  high 
prices  of  real  estate  in  the  old  countries  conceived  the  idea  that  the  prices 
on  this  side  of  the  Atlantic  must  greatly  increase  under  the  rapid  immigra- 
tion and  settlement  of  the  country,  he  invested  largely  in  the  wild  lands  of 
Maine,  and  in  building  up  towns  and  villages.  They  were  greatly  in 
advance  of  their  age,  and  found,  to  their  cost,  that  they  could  not  force 
population,  nor  commerce,  nor  manufactures,  out  of  the  natural  channels 
which  they  would  gradually  work  for  themselves,  in  the  steady  progress 
which  American  society  was  surely  and  gradually  making. 

Mr.  Vaughan  and  his  associates,  finding  no  commercial  town  on  the 
Kennebec,  determined  to  make  one :  they  fixed  upon  Hallowell  as  the 
great  city  at  the  head  of  navigation,  and  selected  Jones's  Eddy  as  the 
seaport.  They  spared  no  expense  to  give  vitality  and  success  to  their  grand 
ideas :  they  built  at  Hallowell  a  distillery,  a  spacious  brewery  for  malt 
liquor,  an  expensive  flour  mill  with  the  most  approved  machinery,  wharves, 
stores,  and  houses  for  the  accommodation  of  these  branches  of  industry. 
At  Jones's  Eddy,  wharves,  houses,  and  stores  were  constructed,  suited  to  a 
large  commercial  business.  But  the  business  did  not  and  would  not  come ; 
and  no  advance  has  been  made  at  the  Eddy  for  more  than  sixty  years,  and 
Hallowell  is  probably  less  i)rosperous  than  it  was  when  the  energetic 
and  public-spirited  Mr.  Vaughan  was  striving  to  build  it  up  as  a  great 
metropolis.  Jones's  Eddy  is  about  nine  miles  above  Hunnewell's  Point  at 
the  mouth  of  the  river,  and  about  four  miles  below  Bath  :  it  is  a  snug  and 
quiet  nook,  well  suited  by  deep  water  and  protecting  arms  for  a  safe  harbor, 
but  is  unsupported  by  a  fertile  and  productive  country.  Judge  Bowman 
partook  of  the  disappointment  and  losses  of  this  premature  enterprise. 


JONATHAN  BOWMAN.  661 

Judge  Bowman  was  twice  married;  first,  April  26,  1770,  to  Mary 
Emerson,  daugluer  of  Ebeuezer  Lowell  of  Boston;  his  second  wife  was  Ann 
Goodwin  of  Dresden,  to  whom  he  was  married  January  1,  1798.  She  died 
in  Dresden,  January  26,  1856,  at  the  age  of  ninety-one:  he  died  September 
4,  1804,  in  the  sixty- ninth  year  of  his  age.  By  his  first  wife,  he  had  four 
children,  viz.,  Jonathan,  William,  Thomas,  and  Mary,  who  was  bom  Novem- 
ber 22,  1784,  married  to  Dr,  Jonathan  B.  Parker  of  Wiscasset,  January 
18,  1800,  and  died  soon  after.  His  oldest  son,  Jonathan,  was  born  April  17, 
1771,  graduated  at  Harvard  College,  1700,  of  which  class  the  venerable 
Quincy  is  the  only  survivor^  and  the  oldest  graduate.  He  qualified  himself 
for  the  bar,  and  opened  an  office  in  Wiscasset  in  1793,  having  the  year 
before  been  appointed  clerk  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  and  Sessions  in 
connection  with  his  father,  and  register  of  probate,  his  father  being  the 
judge.  He  held  the  oflice  of  clerk  of  the  Supreme  Court  and  of  the  Com- 
mon Pleas  until  1801,  when  Alden  Bradford  superseded  him,  but  he  con- 
tinued register  of  probate  two  years  longer,  when  Bradford  succeeded  to 
that  also.    In  1803,  his  brother  William  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  sessions. 

Jonathan,  Jr.,  married,  in  September,  1798,  Lydia  Wood,  daughter  of 
General  Abiel  Wood  of  Wiscasset,  who  died,  leaving  a  daughter,  an  only 
child.  In  180G,  he  married  Sally  D.  Clough,  and  died  August  21,1808. 
His  daughter,  Louisa  Lydia,  had  a  fine  taste  for  music.  She  married  in 
1818  Benjamin  Sewall,  a  merchant  in  Boston,  and  died  in  1828,  leaving  an 
only  daughter,  who  married,  in  1845,  Charles  D.  Hubbard,  a  merchant  in 
Boston.     She  died  in  1854,  leaving  three  children. 

Mr.  Sheppard  says  of  Mr.  Bowman,  Jr.,  that  "  he  was  a  tall  and  hand- 
some man :  he  wore  his  hair  powdered,  with  a  queue  tied  with  black 
ribbon,  a  fashion  of  that  day.  He  was  a  man  of  high  spirit,  and  fought  a 
duel  with  Captain  James  Hodge,  and  wounded  liim :  the  origin  of  the 
quarrel  is  not  known  at  the  present  day. 

William,  the  second  son  of  Judge  Bowman,  was  born  October  2,  1772 :  he 
entered  Harvard  College,  but  did  not  graduate.  He  practiced  law  at 
Wiscasset,  and  in  1803  was  appointed  clerk  of  the  Court  of  Sessions,  which 
office  he  lield  until  1811  :  he  was  also  postmaster  of  Wiscasset.  He  married 
Phebe,  a  daughter  of  Sheriff  Bridge,  and  died  in  September,  1826,  leaving 
a  daughter  born  in  1802,  wlio  married  James  Jolmson  of  Dresden,  in  1827  ; 
and  one  son,  Edmund  Bridge  Bowman,  born  August  29,  1804.  He  gradu- 
ated at  Bowdoin  College  in  1823,  settled  first  in  Bowdoinham  as  a  lawyer, 
and  now  resides  in  Wiscasset,  having  been  recently  clerk  of  the  courts  for 
Lincoln  County.  By  his  wife  Hannah  D.  Norris,  whom  he  married  in  1828, 
he  had  nine  children. 

Thomas  Bowman,  the  third  son  of  Judge  Bowman,  was  born  May  20, 
1774,  a  graduate  of  Harvard,  1794.  A  particular  notice  of  this  gentleman 
will  be  found  in  his  appropriate  place  as  a  lawyer.    He  was  also  the  first 


662        JONATHAN   BOWMAN:   MULTIPLICITY   OF   OFFICES. 

register  of  probate  in  Kennebec  County,  and  completes  the  remarkable 
and  unique  case,  of  a  father  and  all  his  sons  and  a  grandson  having  filled 
the  office,  for  a  series  of  years,  of  clerk  or  register  of  the  courts, —  the 
father  having  held  the  office  of  clerk,  without  intermission  from  the  organi- 
zation of  the  county,  in  17G0,  to  his  death  —  forty-four  years  ;  and  always 
more  than  one  office  at  the  same  time.  As  for  instance,  register  of  deeds 
and  clerk  of  the  court,  and  register  of  probate  ;  then  judge  of  probate, 
register  of  deeds,  and  clerk ;  and  finally,  judge  of  the  Common  Pleas  and 
judge  of  probate,  which  two  offices  he  filled  at  the  time  of  his  death, 
having  held  that  of  probate  from  January,  1772,  to  his  death,  thirty-two 
years.  So  that  his  family  monopolized  the  offices  of  clerk  of  the  several 
courts  and  register  of  probate,  from  17C0  into  the  present  century,  and  the 
head  of  the  family  passing  from  the  clerkship  of  the  two  courts  to  the 
bench  in  each.     He  was  register  of  deeds  from  1760  to  1782. 

The  following  is  a  transcript  of  the  first  entry  upon  the  records  of 
Lincoln  County. 

"Lincoln,  so. 

Anno  Regni  Regis  Georgii  Tertii  magnaj        > 
Britannia)  Franca)  &  Hibernia;,  Primo.  J 

At  his  Majesty's  Court  of  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace,  held  at  Pownal- 
borough  within  and  for  the  County  of  Lincoln  on  the  Second  Tuesday  of 
May,  being  the  Twelfth  day  of  said  Month  Annoque  Domini  1761. 
His  Majesty's  Justices  present  are  as  follows,  viz., 

Samuel  Denny         "j  Patrick  Drummondl 

Aaron  Hinkley         1    ^  Joseph  Patten  i    ^ 

William  Cusliing      f   -^   i    •  James  Howard  |        ^ 

Jonathan  Bowman  J  John  Stinson  J 

At  a  meeting  of  the  Justices  of  the  General  Sessions  of  the  Peace  for  the 
said  County,  March  the  Second  1761  at  Georgetown  in  said  County,  present 
Samuel  Denny,  Esqr.,  William  Lithgow,  Esqr.,  Aaron  Hinkley,  Esqr., 
William  Gushing,  Esqr.,  James  Howard,  Esqr.,  Patrick  Drummond,  Esqr., 
and  Joseph  Patten,  Esqr, 

Jonathan  Bowman,  Esqr.,  unanimously  appointed  Clerk  of  said  Court  of 
Sessions.  A  True  Copy  from  the  Minutes  of  said  Meeting,  —  Attest 
Samuel  Denny.  Sworn  to  the  said  office  Before  me,  Aaron  Hinkley, 
Justice  of  Peace." 


WILLIAM      ALLEN. 

Mr.  Allen,  more  familiarly  known  to  the  old  lawyers  in  Somerset  County, 
and  whose  name  appeared  on  their  writs  for  several  years,  as  William  Allen, 
Jr.,  was  a  native  of  Chilmark  in  Martha's  Vineyard,  where  lie  was  born, 
April  16,  1780,  on  what  was  then  the  manor  of  Tisbury,  by  special  grant  to 


WILLIAM  ALLEN.  663 

his  ancestor.  In  1792,  at  the  age  of  twelve  years,  he  migrated  with  his 
father  to  the  wilderness  of  Maine,  to  the  place  which  is  now  the  town  of 
Industry,  in  the  county  of  Franklin.  He  speaks  of  their  location  as  "  a 
log  camp  two  miles  beyond  any  human  habitation,  and  forty  miles  beyond 
any  incorporated  town."  To  show  what  hardships  the  pioneer  occupants  of 
the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Sandy  River  had  to  endure,  I  must  use  again  his 
graphic  description.  "  We  resided  in  that  camp  five  years,  near  a  large 
swamp,  tormented  with  musquitoes  in  summer,  and  covered  with  snow  in  the 
winter,  secluded  from  society,  without  any  school,  and  on  unproductive  land. 
We  then  removed  four  miles  east  to  another  log  camp,  where  the  land  was 
good,  and  where  by  constant  labor,  we  soon  could  raise  corn  and  grain 
suflScient  for  the  family,  consisting  of  twelve  persons,  —  father,  mother,  six 
Bous  and  four  daughters.  We  lived  comfortably  till  I  became  of  age, 
when  I  commenced  clearing  up  a  farm  for  myself  in  the  woods  :  we  had  no 
schools.  I  succeeded  well,  raised  good  crops,  and,  in  1802,  when  twenty- 
two  years  old,  I  was  able  to  pay  my  board  six  weeks  at  Hallo  well  Academy." 
Such  is  a  specimen  of  what  the  early  settlers  of  our  backwoods  had  to 
endure  in  opening  those  fair  lands  to  the  light  of  civilization  and  profitable 
culture.  It  may  fairly  be  considered  as  the  pursuit  of  the  means  of  living 
under  difficulties. 

In  our  notice  of  Frederic  Allen,  the  distinguished  lawyer  of  Gardiner,  a 
relative  of  William,  we  made  some  reference  to  their  origin.  Their  common 
ancestor  in  this  country  was  James,  .\vli()  was  born  in  England,  in  1630, 
married  to  EHzabeth  JP-«3tSe,  anci  died  at  Tisbury,  July  25,  1714,  aged 
seventy-eight.  His' second  son,  James,  married  Mary  Bourn,  and  died  at 
Chilmark,  on  the  Vineyard,  1724,  aged  fifty :  his  eldest  son,  Sylvanus, 
married  Jane,  a  daughter  of  the  Rev.  William  Homes  of  Chilmark,  July  1, 
1725,  and  died  1787,  aged  eighty-six.  The  Rev.  Mr.  Homes  M'as  a  native  of 
Scotland,  born  about  16G2,  and  settled  in  the  ministry  at  Strabane,  Ireland  : 
after  remaining  there  twelve  years,  he  came  to  Martha's  Vineyard  and 
settled  over  the  parish  there,  where  he  died  in  1747.  His  diary,  kept  in  a 
beautiful  handwriting,  has  been  this  year  presented  to  the  Maine  Historical 
Society,  by  the  subject  of  this  notice.  The  oldest  sou  of  Sylvanus  and  Jane 
( Homes )  Allen,  was  James,  born  in  Chilmark.  1732,  married  to  Mary 
Athearn,  and  died  in  1815,  aged  eighty-three  :  their  oldest  son  was  William, 
who  was  born  1756,  married  Love  Coffin,  and  was  the  father  of  William, 
our  present  subject:  he  moved  to  Industry,  in  1792,  and  died  in  1842,  a^ed 
eighty-six.  William  Allen  is,  therefore,  of  the  sixth  descent  from  the  first 
James,  and  the  fifth  from  the  Rev.  William  Homes.  John  Allen,  the  great 
grandfather  of  Frederick  of  Gardiner,  and  Sylvanus  Allen,  the  great  grand- 
father of  William  of  Norridgewock,  both  married  daughters  of  the  Rev. 
William  Homes  ;  and,  therefore,  they  both  center  in  that  gentleman,  as  well 
as  in  the  first  James  Allen,  as  their  common  ancestors. 


CG4  WILLIAM   ALLEN. 

At  the  ago  of  t\ventj--two,  Mr.  Allen  first  had  the  benefit  of  a  competent 
instructor  to  guide  him  in  his  studies :  this  was  Samuel  Moody,  one  of  a 
family  distinguished  for  its  teachers ;  and  he  entered  upon  the  pursuit  of 
knowledge  with  the  earnestness  with  which  a  famished  man  rushes  to  food. 
Such  was  his  ardor  and  such  was  his  mental  capacity,  that  he  succeeded  in 
six  weeks  in  obtaining  a  knowledge  of  English  grammar,  plane  trigonometry, 
geometry,  and  the  theory  of  surveying.  And  though  he  did  not  receive  a 
college  diploma,  he  obtained  from  his  instructor  a  certificate,  which  answered 
all  the  purpose  to  introduce  him  as  a  teacher  to  the  towns  in  his  county.  It 
certified  that  "  The  improvement  made  in  the  several  studies  he  pursued  was 
answerable  to  my  highest  expectations.  I  recommend  him  to  be  a  person  of 
a  judicious,  penetrating  mind,  and  so  far  as  I  am  acquainted  with  him,  of  a 
good  moral  character.  His  knowledge  in  reading,  writing,  English  gram- 
mar, and  arithmetic  is  such  as,  I  think,  qualifies  him  for  instructing  in 
those  branches  of  literature  usually  taught  in  a  common  English  school." 
He  says  that  this  diploma  was  not  without  its  effect,  for  "  On  my  way  home 
I  had  applications  for  teaching  two  of  the  best  schools  in  the  county,  ragged 
as  I  was."  Schoolmasters  were  not  abroad  then  as  they  are  now,  and  the 
services  of  a  faithful  one  in  that  region  were  diligently  sought  and  highly 
prized.  The  immigrants,  principally  from  the  old  Bay  State  and  New 
Hampshire,  had  received  the  benefit  of  good  common  schools,  and  they 
desired  to  impart  it  to  their  children.  His  continued  progress  I  cannot 
better  express  than  in  his  own  simple  style.  On  his  way  home  from  Hallo- 
well,  he  says,  "  I  took  a  letter  from  a  land  proprietor  to  a  noted  surveyor, 
urging  his  completion  of  his  surveys  of  three  townships  for  which  purchasers 
were  waiting.  I  went  out  of  my  way  to  carry  the  message,  with  the  hope  that 
the  surveyor  would  require  my  assistance.  He  did  employ  me  two  days  at 
seventy-five  cents  a  day,  to  complete  the  plan  of  one  town,  and  I  went  home 
rejoicing,  with  a  dollar  in  my  pocket  and  ten  dollars'  worth  of  instruction 
in  plotting  lots  fronting  on  a  crooked  river,  so  as  to  contain  equal  quantities, 
&c.  I  kept  school  in  Farmington,  under  inspection  of  Henry  V.  Cham- 
berlain, who,  in  visiting  the  school,  spoke  encouragingly  and  in  a  very 
gentlemanly  manner.  I  taught  in  Winthrop  the  two  following  winters,  and 
worked  on  my  land  in  summers.  In  1803,  the  place  where  my  farm  was 
situated  was  incorporated  into  a  town  by  the  name  of  Industry.  I  was 
chosen  first  selectman,  and  served  in  that  oflice  every  year  that  I  resided 
there,  until  1813.  In  the  fall  of  1805,  I  was  employed  by  my  good  friend, 
Samuel  Moody,  an  instructor  in  the  English  department  of  Hallowell 
Academy,  where  I  remained  two  years  with  increased  comjiensation,  when 
the  state  of  my  health  and  the  condition  of  my  farm  required  my  personal 
attention." 

When  the  county  of  Somerset  was  organiied  in  1809,  Mr.  Allen  was 
appointed  one  of  the  justices  of  the  peace  for  the  county,  and  living  near 


WILLIAM   ALLEN.  665 

the  border  of  the  county,  and  but  one  mile  from  the  line  of  Farmington,  in 
which  near  half  the  county  of  Somerset  did  business,  he  became  a  popular 
magistrate  for  the  neighboring  towns.  He  tried  the  causes  of  the  principal 
attornies  there,  and  Messrs.  Nathan  Cutler,  Elnathan  Pope,  Zachariah  Soule, 
Hiram  Belcher,  and  others  brought  their  actions  before  him,  so  that  in  his 
capacity  of  judge  of  small  causes,  his  transactions  were  quite  large  :  in  four 
years,  their  entries  amounted  to  two  hundred,  all  of  which  he  recorded  at 
full  length.  He  was  also  appointed  one  of  the  special  justices  of  the  Court 
of  Common  Pleas,  and  oflSciated  until  that  court  was  abolished  in  1811. 
William  Jones,  a  laAvyer  of  some  repute  in  Norridgewock,  had  been 
appointed  the  first  judge  of  probate  and  the  first  clerk  of  the  courts  in  the 
new  county,  but  dying  in  1813,  Mr.  Allen  was  appointed  clerk  in  his  place 
by  the  Circuit  Court,  then  consisting  of  Weston  Chief  Justice,  Ames  of 
Bath,  and  Thatcher  of  Thomaston  :  he  had  previously,  in  1812,  been  ap- 
pointed temporary  clerk  during  the  sickness  of  Mr,  Jones. 

The  duties  of  this  office  he  was  well  qualified  to  discharge,  by  his  expe- 
rience as  a  practical  justice  and  his  service  on  the  bench,  as  well  as  by  his 
general  habits  of  application  and  accuracy.  He  continued  in  the  office 
twelve  years,  outliving  the  old  Circuit  Court  several  years,  and  retiring  at 
last  with  the  consciousness  of  having  faithfully  performed  his  trust,  and 
given  satisfaction  to  those  immediately  interested  in  the  business  of  the 
courts,  and  all  who  had  occasion  to  meet  him  on  official  business.  During 
this  period,  he  became  intimately  acquainted  with  all  the  lawyers  who  prac- 
ticed in  that  county,  embracing  those  who  earliest  went  there,  through  a 
period  of  more  than  fifty  years, — Wilde  and  Bond,  Boutelle,  Rice  and  Kid- 
der, Chamberlain,  Soule,  Cutler,  Williams,  McLellan,  Belcher, — besides 
those  from  distant  counties,  who  occasionally  illuminated  that  remote  bar, — 
as  Mellen,  Orr,  Greenleaf,  &c.  The  variety  of  talent  and  character  possess- 
ed by  these  counselors,  many  of  them  eminent,  made  an  impression  upon 
his  vivid  memory  which  will  not  be  obliterated  while  reason  and  memory 
retain  their  power  in  his  mind. 

After  his  appointment  as  clerk,  Mr,  Allen  moved  to  Norridgewock,  the 
shire  town  of  the  county,  and  the  favor  which  he  enjoyed  in  the  town  where 
he  had  lived  for  more  than  twenty  years,  followed  him  to  his  new  residence. 
It  was  a  popularity  which  followed  as  well  as  went  before,  for  it  was  founded 
upon  integrity  of  character,  intelligence,  and  prompt  business  habits.  We 
have  mentioned  his  continued  employment  at  Industry  in  municipal  offices  : 
he  had  not  .resided  long  in  Norridgewock  before  his  services  in  the  same 
line  were  sought  for  there.  In  181G,  he  was  elected  one  of  the  selectmen 
and  assessors,  and  held  the  office,  by  successive  re-elections,  seventeen  years, 
and  five  years  subsequently,  making  twenty-two  years  that  he  held  the 
office.  In  1825  and  1828,  he  represented  the  town  in  the  Legislature,  and 
in  1816  and  1819,  in  the  conventions  which  met  at  Brunswick  and  Portland 
43 


GGG  WILLIAM   ALLEN:    JOHN   H.    SHEPPAKD. 

on  the  subject  of  the  separation  of  Maine  from  Massachusetts.  In  botli  the 
conventions,  he  was  one  of  the  committee  to  draft  a  constitution.  The  vote 
of  Norridgewock,  in  181G,  was  sixty-four  in  favor  of  separation  and  sixty- 
five  against  it ;  but  on  the  trial  in  1819,  a  large  majority  voted  in  favor  of 
the  measure,  leaders  in  both  parties  struggling  to  show  their  zeal,  with  a 
hope,  probably,  to  partake  of  the  patronage,  as  in  this  last  attempt,  the  ac- 
complishment of  the  long  sought-for  end  seemed  to  be  a  foregone  conclu- 
sion. 

The  confidence  thus  reposed  in  Mr.  Allen  by  those  who  knew  him  best, 
through  a  period  of  more  than  forty  years,  sufiiciently  testifies  to  his  ability, 
his  moral  worth,  and  his  capacity  for  business.  And  the  confidence  was 
well- bestowed  and  never,  betrayed,  and  in  the  various  responsible  positions 
in  which  he  was  placed,  he  was  always  found  equal  to  the  trusts  committed 
to  his  charge.  And  he  still  devotes  himself  with  his  accustomed  industry, 
and  as  far  as  his  health  will  permit,  to  the  settlement  of  estates  and  other 
probate  and  legal  business,  for  which  his  services  are  much  required. 

In  1808,  Mr.  Allen  married  Hannah  Titcomb,  a  daughter  of  Stephen  Tit- 
comb,  the  first  settler  in  Sandy  River  valley.  Mr.  Titcomb  explored  the 
country  and  took  up  a  lot  there  as  early  as  1776,  and  in  1780  commenced  his 
perilous  journey  of  seventy  miles  through  the  forests  from  Topsham  to  the 
log  hut  he  had  erected  in  the  woods,  with  a  young  wife  and  two  young  child- 
ren, one  an  infant  daughter  in  her  arms.  The  last  habitation  on  the  route 
was  where  Readfield  Corner  now  is,  a  log  cabin,  twenty-two  miles  short  of 
their  destination.  This  then  infant  daughter  became  the  wife  of  Mr.  Allen, 
and  for  fifty-one  years  was  the  dearly  beloved,  most  worthy,  and  cherished 
companion  of  her  devoted  husband.  She  died  deeply  lamented,  March  26, 
1859.  By  her,  he  had  four  sons  and  one  daughter.  The  daughter  became 
the  wife  of  John  S.  Abbott,  a  prominent  lawyer,  and  once  the  attorney  gen- 
eral of  Maine,  now  a  resident  in  Boston:  she  died  in  1858.  Of  the  sons, 
William,  Stephen,  and  Charles  were  graduates  of  Bowdoin  College  :  the  two 
latter  are  able  and  popular  ministers  of  the  Methodist  denomination  :  William 
and  Albert  B.  died  while  pursuing  the  study  of  law.  Mr.  Allen  has  not  only 
given  his  two  sons  to  the  ministry,  but  has  himself  been  a  devoted  and  ex- 
emplary servant,  member,  and  officer  of  the  Methodist  Church  during  his 
long  life  ;  and  still  lives  to  give  it  his  supimrt  by  the  influence  of  his  virtues, 
his  labors,  and  his  pecuniary  means. 

JOUN    n.    SIIEPPARD REGISTER    OF     PROBATE.       1S17  — 1S34. 

Two  lawyers  of  our  State  were  natives  of  England  :  of  one,  Mr.  Hopkins, 
M'o  have  spoken  in  previous  pages.  The  other  is  the  subject  of  the  fol- 
lowing notice,  who  was  also  register  of  probate  for  Lincoln  County  seven- 


.'^ 


x^' 


N>" 


■^^ 


orwL   Jt*.   it3 


u  la. 


'  i^id^ 


1850. 


JOHN   H.   SHEPPARD.  667 

teen  years,  under  the  excellent  Judge  Bailey.  We  are  permitted  to  use  on 
this  occasion  an  autobiography,  wliich  cannot  fail  to  prove  interesting. 

I  was  born  March  17,  1789,  at  Cirencester,  Gloucestershire,  England, — a 
town  surrounded  with  a  wall  by  Julius  Caesar,  portions  of  which,  two  miles 
in  extent,  are  still  visible.  There  my  ancestors  lived,  and  their  genealogy, 
running  some  ages  back,  is  in  my  possession.  My  father,  John  Sheppard, 
a  merchant,  was  well  educated  at  an  English  school,  and  served  his  time  in 
a  counting-house  in  London.  He  married  my  mother,  Sarah  Collier  of  that 
city,  who  had  been  two  years  under  tuition  at  a  convent  in  France,  and  ex- 
celled in  music.  They  were  both  young,  and  emigrated  to  America  about 
1703.  They  went  first  to  Philadelphia,  and  then  to  Hallowell  on  the  Kenne- 
bec ;  but  I  have  no  recollection  of  that  period.  For  several  years,  my  father 
was  engaged  in  trade  at  the  "  Hook,"  so  called,  — a  handsome  bend  in  the 
river, —  where  "  Sheppard's  Wharf,"  almost  at  the  head  of  navigation,  still 
preserves  his  name,  while  the  ancient  house  where  we  lived,  has  vanished 
from  that  beautiful  spot.  He  was  concerned  in  a  large  brewery  with  Charles 
Vaughan,  Esq.,  and  built  a  brig  named,  I  believe,  the  Bermuda,  which 
foundered  at  sea,  uninsured.  He  was  unfortunate,  wound  up  his  business, 
and  went  as  supercargo  on  a  voyage  to  the  East  Indies,  in  which  he  acquired 
such  a  knowledge  of  navigation  and  lunar  calculations,  that  he  afterwards 
took  the  command  of  a  ship  belonging  to  Stephen  Higginson  &  Co.,  of  Bos- 
ton. In  the  recent  "  Commemorative  Discourse  on  the  Death  of  Hon.  Ed- 
ward A.  Newton,"  by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Randall,  page  nineteen,  it  is  remarked 
that  Mr.  Newton  went  to  India,  January,  1805,  "in  the  capacity  of  assistant 
to  the  captain,  who  was  supercargo."  My  father  was  that  man ;  and  it  is 
singular  that  Mr.  Newton,  a  member  of  our  Genealogical  Society,  on  the 
7th  of  February  last,  upon  my  being  introduced  to  him  at  the  rooms,  should 
have  mentioned  the  same  fact  to  me.  He  spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  my 
father  as  an  English  gentleman  of  fine  figure  and  appearance,  and  of  my 
mother,  whose  voice  of  music  he  remembered  well,  and  whom  he  described 
as  a  woman  of  elegant  symmetry  and  beauty. 

My  father  had  many  warm  friends  :  among  them  was  that  finished  classic 
scholar  and  man  of  genius,  the  late  llev.  John  S.  J.  Gardiner,  D.  D.,  rector  of 
Trinity  Church,  under  whose  care  I  was  at  college,  and  to  whom  I  am  indebt- 
ed for  a  love  of  choice  reading  and  literature,  which  have  been  a  jjerennial 
consolation  and  support  in  all  the  changes  of  fortune.  The  Hon.  Benjamin 
Vaughan,  LL.  D.,  who  settled  in  Hallowell  soon  after  my  father,  was  another 
friend ;  and  the  friendsliip  of  such  a  man,  to  him  and  his  family,  and  partic- 
ularly to  myself,  is  among  the  halcyon  recollections  of  early  life.  My  father 
wrote  a  very  handsome  hand,  and  kept  a  journal  when  absent,  in  a  style  of  ac- 
curacy, conciseness,  and  vigor :  ho  was  a  great  reader,  and  had  a  fine  taste. 
He  died  of  the  yellow  fever  at  Point  Petre,  Guadaloupo,  August  22,  1807,  aged 
about  forty,  and  was  buried  with  Masonic  obsequies.     I  was  tlien  a  student 


668         JOHN  H.  sheppard:  hallowell  academy. 

at  law,  and  when  the  news  reached  us,  and  I  thought  of  a  widowed  mother 
and  seven  children,  of  whom  I  was  the  eldest,  being  only  eighteen,  I  was 
seized  with  a  dangerous  fever,  which  laid  me  on  the  bed  of  sickness  for  a 
long  time,  for  I  was  greatly  attached  to  my  father. 

As  to  myself,  I  was  seven  years  under  the  care  of  Samuel  bloody,  precep- 
tor of  Hallowell  Academy,  since  deceased,  a  thorough  Dartmouth  scholar, 
and  superior  instructor.  I  can  see,  in  the  visions  of  the  past,  his  tall,  majes- 
tic form,  like  an  admiral  on  the  deck  of  his  frigate,  treading  the  academic 
floor,  arrayed  in  small  clothes,  the  costume  of  the  time,  with  his  bright  blue 
eye  watching  over  his  one  hundred  pupils  at  their  desks.  He  was  severe  at 
times,  but  affectionate,  and  used  the  ferule  as  a  scepter  of  righteousness. 
I  loved  him  and  was  a  favorite,  for  he  let  me  study  the  Eclogues  of  Virgil 
in  school  hours  under  the  groves  of  the  Academy.  His  scholars  turned  out 
well  in  the  world.  Among  them  was  my  friend,  General  A.  S.  Dearborn 
late  Mayor  of  Roxbury  ;  Nathan  Weston,  formerly  chief  justice  of  the  Su- 
preme Judicial  Court  of  Maine  ;  Hon.  Ileuel  Williams  ;  Charles  Shaw,  author 
of  a  history  of  Boston  ;  Alfred  Johnson,  late  judge  of  probate  at  Belfast; 
Joseph  M.  Marsh,  Esq.,  cashier  of  the  Exchange  Bank,  Boston  ;  and  many 
others,  since  of  note  in  life. 

In  1804,  I  entered  Harvard  University.  My  chum  was  Lloyd  Nicholas 
Rogers  of  Baltimore,  a  fine  Greek  scholar,  who  died  November  30,  1860. 
My  father  had  been  unfortunate,  and  withdrew  my  connection  in  the  middle 
of  the  junior  j'ear  ;  up  to  which  time  my  collegiate  expenses  had  been  gen- 
erously defrayed  by  the  late  George  Higginson,  Esq.,  of  Boston,  who,  when 
I  had  finished  my  law  studies,  gave  me  a  law  library  worth  five  hundred 
dollars.  I  entered  the  office  of  Wilde  and  Bond,  Hallowell,  the  late  distin- 
guished Judge  Wilde,  who  was  to  me  as  a  father,  and  whose  honored  mem- 
ory I  shall  ever  cherish.  Without  a  degree,  the  term  of  study  was  then  four 
years,  during  which,  in  the  office,  I  read  all  the  law  library,  and  at  home, 
went  through  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey  and  several  Greek  authors,  acquired 
some  IcQOwledge  of  French  and  more  of  Italian,  es{jecially  of  the  Divina 
Comedia  of  Daute,  and  the  marvellous  stj'le  of  Boccace.  I  endeavored  to 
sleep  but  four  hours  a  day,  but  my  health  suffered. 

I  was  admitted  at  the  bar  in  August,  1810,  opened  an  office  in  Wiscasset, 
and  for  a  season  almost  lost  my  taste  for  literary  pursuits  in  a  struggle  for 
support.  Nil  Besperandum  is  the  .motto  on  my  father's  coat  of  arms,  yet  I 
found,  for  years,  the  truth  of  Juvenal's  sad  remark : 

"  Hauil  facilo  omergunt,  quorum  virtutibus  obstat 
Res  angusta:  domi." — Satire  III.,  164. 

In  1817,  I  was  appointed  register  of  probate  for  Lincoln  County  (Jere- 
miah Bailey,  judge),  by  Governor  Brooks.  I  held  this  office  seventeen 
years,  to  April  1,  1834,  and  was  also  notary  public.  It  enabled  me  to  take 
care  of  my  mother,  three  sisters,  and  young  brother,  whom  I  removed  from 


JOHN   H.   SHEPPARD.  669 

Portland  in  1816.  Slie  had  taught  school  since  my  father's  death,  and 
especially  mus.c,  in  Hallowell,  and  afterwards  in  Portland  under  Judge 
Mellen's  patronage.  She  gave  an  accomplished  education  to  her  daughters  ; 
but  I  saw  too  plainly  her  health  began  to  fail  after  the  death  of  my  sister 
Frances.  This  fond  parent  died  November  6,  1818,  and  at  the  time  I  had 
the  means  to  make  her  more  happy,  I  honor  her  memory  for  the  noble 
spirit  with  which  she  bore  her  sorrows  and  brought  up  a  large  family.  She 
belonged  to  the  Episcopal  Church :  her  religion  was  noiseless,  her  spirits 
cheerful,  and  so  prudent  she  seldom,  if  ever,  spoke  an  unkind  or  disparaging 
word  of  any  one. 

My  sister,  Harriet  Helen,  born  1791,  died  April  10,  1817,  aged  twenty-six  ; 
my  brother,  George  Albert,  merchant  in  Calcutta,  married  a  daughter  of  one 
of  the  directors  of  the  East  India  Company,  bom  1793,  died  1834  ;  Frances 
died  of  a  rapid  decline,  1814,  in  Portland,  on  the  eve  of  a  most  flattering 
marriage;  Ann  Augusta  married  Dr.  P,  E.  Theobald  of  Wiscasset,  May  23, 
1822,  and  died  September  G,  1824  ;  Louisa,  born  1806,  married  Major  Samuel 
Page  of  Wiscasset,  and  died  October  3,  1833,  aged  twenty-seven,  leaving  two 
children ;  and  Wm.  W.,  born  1807,  died  of  cholera,  on  the  Mississippi,  1834. 

I  was  married  to  Helen,  daughter  of  the  late  Abiel  AVood,  May  13,  1819. 
We  had  three  children :  Hannah  Wood,  born  February  9,  1820,  who  was 
married  to  Dr.  Stephen  B.  Sewall,  and  recently  died,  November  19,  1862, 
aged  forty-two,  leaving  a  daughter  and  son,  Helen  and  Frederic  ;  John  H., 
born  March  7,  1822,  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College,  1845,  and  at  Cambridge 
in  1849,  M.  D. ;  and  Abiel  Wood,  born  March  30,  1827,  educated  as  a  mer- 
chant.    They  have  long  been  in  California. 

I  received  the  honor  of  A.  M.  from  Bowdoin  College  in  1820,  and  was  one 
of  the  board  of  overseers  for  several  years,  from  1831  to  18-32.  I  was  ap- 
pointed one  of  the  general  assignees  in  Maine,  under  the  last  United  States 
bankrupt  law,  by  Hon.  Judge  Ware.  In  1842,  on  account  of  my  wife's 
health,  I  removed  to  Boston,  where  this  most  affectionate  partner  was  taken 
from  me,  June  26,  1843.  Since  that  time,  I  have  resided  in  that  city  and 
kept  an  office,  but  have  never  practiced  in  the  courts.  In  Wiscasset,  I  had 
an  extensive  run  of  business  ;  at  one  term  of  the  court,  was  engaged  in  al- 
most every  jury  trial.  Before  Metcalf's  Digest  of  Massachusetts  Reports 
■was  published,  I  had  prepared  one  similar  to  it,  which  Judge  Mellen  exam- 
ined, and  advised  mo  to  publish,  but  after  that  more  elaborate  work  came  out,  I 
was  too  late.  November  13,  1846, 1  was  again  married,  to  Mrs.  0.  B.  Foster, 
daughter  of  the  late  Rev.  Ezra  Willmarth  of  Georgetown,  Massachusetts. 
In  January,  1861,  I  was  elected  librarian  of  the  New  England  Historico-Gen- 
ealogical  Society,  whicli  office  I  now  hold, 

NOTE. 

AVo  may  add  to  this  interesting  memoir  a  few  facts,  which  the  author  has 
modestly  omitted.     The  notice  of  Mr.  Sheppard  would  be  incomplete  if  his 


670  JOHN  H.  SHEPPARD  :  MASONRY. 

efforts  anil  his  honors,  as  a  prominent  and  leading  member  of  the  Masonic 
Order,  should  liave  no  place  in  it.  Mr.  Sheppard  in  early  life,  following  the 
example  of  his  father,  entered  the  Order  as  an  apprentice,  and  has  ever 
since,  with  the  ardor  and  energy  which  make  part  of  his  character,  zealous- 
ly devoted  himself,  through  good  report  and  evil  report,  to  its  service.  As 
early  as  1820,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Royal  Arch  Ciiapter,  and  was  Royal 
Arch  Captain  of  the  New  Jerusalem  Ciiapter  of  Wiscasset.  In  that  year, 
the  Grand  Lodge  of  Maine  was  incorporated,  of  which  William  King,  Qov- 
ernor  of  the  State,  was  made  Grand  Master,  and  Simon  Greenleaf,  Deputy 
Grand  Master.  And  the  Lodge  inaugurated  its  establishment  by  a  grand 
and  gorgeous  jubilee  in  Portland,  which  had  never  been  exceeded  in  the 
State.  Mr.  Sheppard  was  present  on  this  occasion,  June  2i,  1820,  and  de- 
livered an  address.  He  has  delivered  several  other  Masonic  orations  before 
the  Grand  Lodges  of  Maine,  New  Hampshire,  and  Vermont,  and  on  other 
public  occasions,  some  of  which  were  published,  and  well  received  by  the 
Order  and  the  community.  The  most  prominent  of  these,  perhaps,  was  his 
"  Defense  of  Masonry,"  delivered  at  Wiscasset,  June  24,  1831,  at  a  time  when 
the  attacks  upon  the  Masonic  institution  were  incessant  and  severe.  This 
address  was  published  in  Boston,  and  brought  down  upon  its  author  a  shower 
of  crimination  and  abuse  from  all  the  auti-Masonic  papers  published  in  the 
land.  Theaddresswasreceived  with  great  favor  by  the  advocates  of  Masonry: 
three  editions,  numbering  three  thousand  copies,  were  published.  Among 
those  who  attacked  t!ie  sentiments  of  the  address,  was  no  less  a  person  than 
John  Quincy  Adams :  his  principal  animadversion  was  against  a  statement 
of  the  address,  that  John  Adams,  father  of  Jolm  Quincy,  was  a  friend  to 
Masonry.  This  his  son  denied,  and  made  a  personal  attack  in  a  Boston 
paper  against  the  author  of  the  address.  To  this  attack,  Mr.  Sheppard  re- 
plied in  the  Boston  Gazette,  and  vindicated  his  allegation  by  quoting  a  letter 
from  the  first  President  Adams  to  the  Grand  Lodge  of  Massachusetts,  dated 
Philadelphia,  June  22, 1798.  His  reply  was  conclusive,  and  was  republished 
in  other  papers  as  far  south  as  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  and  had  an  ex- 
tensive circulation. 

The  Masonic  institution  survived  the  staggering,  long-continued,  and  oft- 
repeated  attacks  upon  it  during  a  period  of  fifteen  years,  and  is  now  in  a 
more  flourishing  condition  than  it  ever  has  been.  This  fact  was  demonstrated 
by  the  celebration  which  took  place  in  Portland,  June  24, 1862,  in  commem- 
oration of  the  one  hundredth  anniversary  of  the  establishment  of  the  Masonic 
institution  in  the  State.  Tiiis  was  the  most  elaborate  and  gorgeous  display 
ever  witnessed  in  Maine,  calling  together  lodges,  and  chapters,  and  encamp- 
ments from  our  own  and  numerous  other  States.  Mr.  Siieppard  was  present, 
as  a  Knight  Templar,  and  made  an  address  in  the  evening  to  a  large  assem- 
blage. 

la  1835,  Mr.  Sheppard  published  anonymously  an  elegy  in  nine  stanzas, 


JOHN   H.  SHEPPARD:   HENRY   SEWALL.  G71 

on  the  death  of  our  late  distinguished  citizen,  Dr.  Benjamin  Vaughan  of 
Hallowell.  This  was  repubhslied  in  the  National  Intelligencer  and  other 
papers,  and  had  a  wide  circulation. 

Mr.  Sheppard  still  continues  to  render  good  service  to  the  cause  of  letters 
as  well  as  to  Masonry,  His  labors  in  the  library  of  the  Uistorlco-Genealogi- 
cal  Society,  and  commuications  at  its  meetings  and  to  its  periodical,  the 
"  Register,"  are  of  permanent  value,  and  will  place  his  name  among  the 
benefactors  of  that  useful  and  respected  institution. 

HENRY      SEWALL.       1789  —  1818. 

The  venerable  Henry  Sewall,  who  died  in  Augusta  in  1845,  at  the  age  of 
ninety-two,  was  the  oldest  brother  of  Daniel  Sewall,  the  ancient  clerk  of 
the  courts  in  York  County,  and  of  the  Rev.  Jotham  Sewall,  long  a  valued 
missionary  in  Maine,  whose  labors  ceased  only  with  his  protracted  life  of 
ninety  years,  in  1850.  They  were  lineal  descendants  of  Henry  Sewall,  of  a 
highly  respected  family  in  England,  the  first  of  the  name  to  these  shores, 
which  he  reached  at  the  age  of  twenty ;  established  himself  at  Newbury  in 
1035  ;  married  Jane,  a  daughter  of  Stephen  Dummer  ;  and  was  the  ancestor 
of  all,  or  nearly  all,  of  the  name  in  the  country.  His  daughter  Ann  mar- 
ried William  Longfellow,  and  is  the  maternal  ancestor  of  all  the  Longfellows 
among  us.  Henry  Sewall,  the  clerk,  at  the  head  of  our  article,  was  of  the 
fifth  degree  from  the  first  Henry,  who  died  in  1700,  aged  about  ninety  ; 
his  second  son,  John,  born  in  1654,  was  the  father  of  Nicholas,  and  Hannah 
who  married  Rev.  Samuel  Moody  of  York  ;  Nicholas,  born  June  1,  1690, 
married  Mehitabel,  daughter  of  Samuel  Storer,  was  a  tanner  by  trade,  and 
died  in  1740  :  he  had  Henry,  born  March  20,  1727 ;  Stephen,  born  1734,  the 
learned  professor  of  Hebrew  in  Harvard  College;  and  numerous  other 
children.  His  son  Henry  was  the  father  of  the  aged  trio  above  mentioned, 
was  a  mason  by  trade,  and  cultivated,  besides,  a  farm  in  York. 

Henry,  the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  born  in  York,  October  24,  1752  : 
he  was  brought  up  to  his  father's  occupation,  working  at  intervals  upon  the 
farm.  He  must  have  received  a  good  education,  for  he  wrote  a  beautiful 
hand,  and  in  his  letters  expressed  himself  with  clearness  and  force.  His 
relatives,  including  tlie  Moodys,  were  among  the  most  respected  persons  of 
the  town :  the  Rev.  Samuel  Moody,  the  second  minister  of  York,  who 
married  his  grandfather's  sister,  was  a  learned  and  devoted  man,  of  whom  it 
was  said  that  "his  praise  was  in  all  the  churches  of  that  region:  "  Mr. 
Moody's  son,  Joseph,  was  the  pastor  of  the  second  parish  in  the  same  town. 

When  hostilities  commenced  with  Great  Britain,  the  Sewalls  of  York 
entered  heartily  into  the  cause  of  the  colonies.  Henry,  at  the  age  of 
twenty-three,  joined  the  army  as  a  private,  and  honorably  served  through 
the  war,  having  risen  through  the  intermediate  grades   to  the  rank  of 


672  HENRY   SEWALL. 

captain,  and  was  at  one  time  an  aid  to  General  Heath,  but  without  losing 
his  rank  of  captain  in  the  line.  Under  the  act  of  1828,  granting  pensions  to 
the  ollicers  and  soldiers  of  the  Revolution,  he  was  placed  on  the  pension 
list,  and  drew  the  rate  as  a  captain  of  infantry  to  the  time  of  his  death,  four 
hundred  and  eight}'  dollars  a  year. 

On  the  conclusion  of  peace  he  established  himself  at  Augusta,  where  the 
remainder  of  his  life  was  spent  in  labors  useful  and  honorable,  to  the  church 
of  which  he  was  a  most  honored  member  and  officer,  to  the  town,  the  county, 
and  the  nation.  In  1789,  General  Sewall  was  at  New  York  during  the  ses- 
sion of  the  first  Congress  in  the  summer  of  1789.  By  his  letters,  from 
which  we  make  some  extracts,  he  appears  to  have  been  an  attentive  observer 
of  the  subjects  which  were  then  occupying  Congress.  On  the  first  of  Au- 
gust he  writes  :  "  The  committee  appointed  not  long  since  to  bring  in  a  re- 
port respecting  amendments  to  the  Constitution,  have  performed  that  service, 
and  the  draught  of  their  report  is  in  the  enclosed  scrap  of  a  newspaper. 
These  proposed  amendments  do  not  vary  essential!}',  and  scarcely  in  form 
differ,  from  those  proposed  in  June  last  by  Mr.  Madison.  They  are  of  such 
a  general  nature  that  it  is  thought  they  will  meet  the  ready  approbation  of 

all  parties.     I3y  a  gentleman  of  character  and  information  lately  from , 

I  am  informed  that  there  is  no  ground  to  expect  that  that  Slate  will  come 
into  the  present  Union.  They  are  confident  in  the  opinion  that  Congress 
cannot  compel  them,  and  that  they  can  have  what  foreign  alliance  and  assist- 
ance they  may  want  for  supporting  their  independence. 

"  The  prodigious  quantity  of  copper  coin  which  has  been  pouring  in  here 
from  the  eastward  for  more  than  a  year  past,  has  at  length  produced  a  revo- 
lution. About  a  week  ago,  they  fell  suddenly  from  twenty  to  forty-eight 
and  sixty  for  the  New  York  shilling,  and  now  they  are  refused  altogether. 
It  is  judged  that  there  were  between  fifteen  and  twenty  thousand  pounds 
New  York  currency,  in  this  city,  of  copper  coin."  Another  letter  to  the 
same  correspondent,  Mr.  Benjamin  Shaw  of  Hallowell,  dated  August  18, 
1789,  contains  some  interesting  facts,  "For  near  a  week  past  the  attention 
of  the  House  of  Representatives  has  been  engrossed  on  the  subjects  of 
amendments  to  the  Constitution.  They  have  taken  up  the  report  which  was 
made  by  the  committee  of  eleven,  and  have  proceeded  to  pass  upon  the 
several  articles  without  any  material  alteration.  Those  who  were  not  very 
anxious  for  amendments  consented  that  the  matter  should  be  brought  on 
now,  upon  the  principle  of  conciliation  to   which  they  seem  to  be  disposed, 

and  to  give  the  subject  a  fair,  open,  and  candid  discussion.     Mr.  G of 

Massachusetts  seems  to  be  disposed  to  embarrass  the  House  by  multiplying 
not  only  his  motions,  but  amassing  together  a  crude  variety  of  proposed 
amendments,  which  would  seem  rather  to  perplex  than  to  facilitate  the 
business.  Mr.  Tucker  of  South  Carolina  also  introduced  a  long  list  of 
amendments,  principally  local,  which  were  rejected  by  the  House.    The 


HENRY   SEWALL:    U.    S.    DISTRICT   COURT.  673 

subject  of  amendments  being  now  passed  upon,  it  is  probable  the  judiciary 
bill  will  claim  the  first  attention." 

The  Mr.  0.  mentioned  by  Mr.  Sewall,  was  Elbridse  Gerry,  who  was  a 
member  of  the  Continental  Congress  from  1776  to  1785,  and  signed  the  Dec- 
laration of  Independence  :  he  was  a  representative  in  Congress  from  1789 
to  1793,  Governor  of  Massachu.setts  in  1811,  and  Vice  President  of  the  United 
States,  1813-1817.  The  name  of  the  State  which  was  not  then  in  the 
Union  is  unfortunately  obliterated  in  Mr.  Sewall's  letter,  but  as  North  Carolina 
and  Rhode  Island  were  tlie  two  which  were  not  represented  in  the  early  days 
of  the  session,  it  must  have  been  one  of  them, — North  Carolina  adopted  the 
Constitution  in  November,  1789,  and  Rhode  Island,  May  29,  1790. 

The  judiciary  act  was  passed  September  24,  1789,  by  which  Maine  was 
constituted  a  separate  District,  and  invested  with  jurisdiction  of  all  causes 
cognizable  in  a  Circuit  Court,  except  appeals  and  writs  of  error,  in  addition 
to  the  usual  powers  of  District  Courts.  This  jurisdiction  it  retained  untij 
the  separation  of  the  State  from  Massachusetts,  Under  this  act,  President 
Washington  nominated,  and  the  Senate  confirmed,  David  Sewall  as  judge ; 
William  Lithgow,  Jr.,  of  Augusta,  as  attorney  ;  and  Henry  Dearborn  of 
Gardiner,  as  marshal :  their  commissions  bear  date  September  26,  1789 
The  court  assembled  at  Portland  on  the  first  Tuesday,  being  the  first  day  of 
December,  1789,  when  the  commissions  of  the  judge,  attorney,  and  marshal 
were  read,  and  the  oath  prescribed  by  law  w^as  administered  to  Judge  Sewall 
by  four  magistrates  of  Portland;  viz.,  Samuel  Freeman,  Richard  Codman, 
John  Frothingham,  and  Daniel  Davis.  Whereupon  Judge  Sewall  appointed 
his  kinsman,  Henry  Sewall,  clerk  of  the  court  by  the  following  commission : 

"  District  of  Maine,  ss. 

To  Henry  Sctvall  of  Mallowell  in  the  District  of  Maine,  Esquire  : 
[seal.] 
Pursuant  to  a  commission  from  George  Washington,  President  of  the 
United  States  of  America,  to  me,  to  be  judge  of  the  District  Court  of  Maine, 
and  by  virtue  of  an  act  of  Congress  to  establish  the  Judicial  Courts  of  the 
United  States,  I  do  hereby  appoint  you,  the  said  Henry  Sewall,  Clerk  of  the 
District  Court  of  Maine,  to  have,  hold,  [exercise,  and  enjoy  the  said  oflice, 
with  the  profits,  perquisites,  and  emoluments  to  the  same  belonging,  for  and 
during  pleasure.  In  witness  whereof,  I  have  hereunto  set  my  hand  and 
seal,  at  Portland  in  the  said  District,  the  first  day  of  December,  A.  D.,  1789. 

David  Sewall." 

The  judge  then  administered  the  oath  to  the  clerk,  and  he  entered  upon 
the  duties  of  his  oflice. 

The  records  kept  by  Mr.  Sewall  have  all  the  neatness  and  beauty  of  cop- 
per-plate, and  arc  an  extraordinary  specimen  of  accuracy.  They  commence 
as  follows : 

"  Records  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States,  begun  and  held  at 


674  HENRY  sewall:  u.  s.  district  court. 

Portland,  withia  and  for  the  District  of  Maine,  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  De- 
cember, in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1789,  being  the  first  day  of  the  same  month  ^ 

The  court  being  opened,  the  commissionis  following  were  read."  Then 
follow  the  commissions  to  the  ofiicers  of  the  court  before  mentioned.  After 
which  is  the  following  entry  :  "  There  being  no  direction  as  yet  by  the  laws 
of  the  United  States,  as  to  the  time  or  manner  of  serving  original  writs  in 
the  District  Court,  the  court  do  now  order  and  make  a  rule  thereof.  That 
the  same  regulations  in  that  respect  shall  take  place  and  be  observed,  as  by 
the  laws  of  Massachusetts  are  prescribed  for  the  service  of  original  writs 
in  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  thereof.  And  that  all  barristers  and  attornies 
duly  admitted  and  sworn  in  the  Supreme  Judicial  Court  of  Massachusetts, 
p7-ior  to  this  time,  may  practise  in  this  court.  And  thereupon,  on  the  same 
first  Tussdaj"^  of  December,  being  the  first  day  of  the  same  month,  the  court 
adjourned  without  day." 

Tlie  next  term  was  held  at  Pownalboro'  on  the  first  Tuesday  of  March, 
1790,  at  which  only  two  entries  were  made ;  both  by  Stephen  Smith,  collec- 
tor of  Machias,  for  breach  of  the  revenue  laws.  The  next,  being  the  third 
term,  was  held  in  Portland  on  the  first  Tuesday  in  June,  1790,  at  which  a 
grand  jury  and  two  petit  juries  were,  for  the  first  time,  impaneled  in  this 
court.  Several  informations  and  libels  were  filed  for  breach  of  revenue 
laws,  and  a  capital  trial  for  piracy,  the  first  that  had  occurred  under  the  new 
government.  The  prisoners  were  Ttiomas  Bird,  who  is  styled  late  resident 
of  Bristol,  in  Great  Britain,  and  Hans  Hanson,  late  resident  of  the  kingdom 
of  Norway.  They  were  taken  on  the  coast  of  Cape  Elizabeth,  where  they 
had  been  trading  from  a  small  schooner  of  about  thirty  tons,  commanded  by 
Bird.  They  were  first  taken,  under  suspicious  circumstances,  before  the  Su- 
preme Court  of  Massachusetts,  then  silting  in  Portland ;  and  on  examination, 
it  appeared  that  the  vessel  they  came  in  belonged  to  one  Hodges  of  England, 
which  had  been  trading  on  the  coast  of  Africa  under  command  of  Captain 
Connor;  that  in  a  moment  of  resentment  for  abusive  treatment,  the  crew, 
or  a  part  of  them,  had  risen  upon  the  master  and  killed  him,  and  then  fled 
to  America  with  the  vessel  and  cargo.  The  case  not  falling  under  the 
jurisdiction  of  the  court  of  Massachusetts,  the  prisoners  were  remitted  to 
the  District  Court,  where  they  were  tried  at  the  June  term,  1790,  on  a  bill 
of  indictment  duly  presented.  To  accommodate  the  largo  number  of  persons 
whom  curiosity  drew  to  the  trial,  the  proceedings  were  held  in  the  meeting 
house  of  the  First  Parisli,  on  Friday,  the  fifth  day  of  June,  when  it  being 
fully  proved  by  the  testimony  of  one  of  the  crew  and  the  voluntary  confes- 
sion of  Bird,  he  was  found  guilty,  and  Hanson  was  acquitted.  Judge 
Sewall  pronounced  the  sentence  of  death  on  Bird,  to  be  carried  into  effect 
on  the  twenty-fifth  day  of  the  same  June  ;  and  he  was  accordingly  executed 
on  that  day,  in  Portland.  Marslial  Dearborn  presided.  Mr.  Lithgow,  the 
district  attorney,   was  the    prosecuting  officer,   and   the    prisoners    were 


HENRY   SEWALL  :    JOHN   MUSSEY.  675 

defended  by  John  Frothinghamand  William  Symmes,  assigned  by  the  court. 
Mr.  Sewall  continued  to  hold  the  oflice  of  clerk  until  1818,  about  twenty- 
nine  years,  when  he  and  the  judge  both  retired, —  the  judge  at  the  age  of 
eighty-three,  and  the  clerk  at  that  of  sixty-six.  He  was  a  most  prompt, 
faithful,  and  accurate  officer,  and  his  records  bear  ample  testimony  to  his 
intelligence,  neatness,  and  accuracy. 

Mr.  Sewall  was  succeeded  in  this  office  by  John  Mussey  of  Portland,  who 
entered  upon  its  duties  January  1,  1819.  On  the  establishment  of  the 
Circuit  Court  of  the  United  States  in  Maine,  which  took  place  in  1820, 
under  an  act  of  Congress  passed  March  30,  of  that  year,  Mr.  Mussey  was 
appointed  clerk  of  that  court  also,  and  held  the  two  offices  until  18-48, —  a 
period  of  twenty-nine  years  and  some  months.  Mr.  Mussey  was  a  son  of 
Captain  John  Mussey  of  Portland,  where  he  was  bom,  October  15,  1790. 
He  graduated  at  Bowdoin  College  in  1809,  of  the  fourth  class  which  left 
the  institution :  in  his  class  were  President  Lord  of  Dartmouth  College,  and 
the  late  Benjamin  Randall  of  Bath.  He  studied  law  with  Judge  Whitman, 
and  was  admitted  to  the  Cumberland  Bar  in  1812.  Mr.  Alussey  was  a  most 
faithful,  accurate,  and  punctual  clerk :  he  did  his  work  promptly  and  to  the 
satisfaction  of  the  courts,  whose  officer  he  was,  and  retired  upon  a  compe- 
tency, inherited,  and  largely  increased^by  his  industry  and  good  manage- 
ment, and  which  he  still  lives  to  enjoy. 

In  1799,  on  the  organization  of  the  county  of  Kennebec,  Mr.  Sewall  was 
chosen  register  of  deeds  for  the  county,  and  held  the  office  until  1816  :  for 
this  place  he  was  admirably  qualified  by  the  beauty  of  his  handwriting,  and 
his  habit  of  correctness  in  everytiiing  that  he  undertook. 

The  military  experience  and  talent  of  General  Sewall  were  early  called 
into  exercise  in  his  new  place  of  residence.  On  the  organization  of  the 
militia  in  Maine,  there  were  two  divisions  estabhshed  :  one  the  sixth,  em- 
bracing York  and  Cumberland,  which  was  placed  under  the  command  of 
Major  General  Ichabod  Goodwin  ;  the  eighth  division  embraced  the  counties 
of  Lincoln,  Hancock,  and  Washington,  of  which  William  Lithgow,  Jr.,  who 
had  served  in  the  Revolutionary  army  as  major,  was  commissioned  major 
general,  and  Mr.  Sewall  with  the  rank  of  colonel,  "  deputy  adjutant  gen- 
eral." Henry  Dearborn  was  brigadier  general  of  the  first  brigade,  and 
Alexander  Campbell  of  the  second.  After  the  death  of  General  Lilhgow,  in 
1796,  General  Dearborn  was  promoted  to  the  chief  command  of  the  division, 
and  Colouel  Sewall  was  made  brigadier.  And  when  General  Dearborn  left 
the  State  to  enter  upon  his  duties  as  secretary  of  war,  in  1801.  General 
Sewall  succeeded  him  in  the  command  of  the  division, —  a  post  which  he 
filled  with  zeal  and  intelligence  twenty  years,  until  the  militia  was  reorgan- 
ized under  the  new  State. 

On  the  news  being  received  of  the  capture  of  Castine  by  the  British,  on 
the  first  of  September,  1814,  and  the  movement  of  a  portion  of  the  lleet  up 


676      HENRY   SEWALL  :   OFFICERS   OF   THE   U.  S.  COURTS. 

the  Penobscot  River,  General  Sewall  called  out  a  portion  of  his  division,  and 
proceeded  with  dispatch  to  the  Penobscot.  Here  he  found  that  the  enemy- 
had  preceded  him,  and  by  the  disgraceful  cowardice  and  want  of  combina- 
tion of  the  local  militia,  Hampden  and  Bangor  had  been  captured,  the  sloop 
of  war  Adams  abandoned  and  burnt,  and  possession  of  the  river  seized  by 
the  enemy.  By  these  daring  acts,  the  whole  eastern  country  was  aroused, 
and  the  militia  was  collected  in  large  bodies  on  ^the  river  and  the  whole 
coast  of  Maine. 

General  Sewall  was  strictly  and  thoroughly  an  upright,  conscientious, 
and  religious  man  :  when  he  took  office,  and  he  did  not  accept  any  that  he 
was  not  competent  to  fill,  he  had  no  other  purpose  than  to  discharge  the 
duties  with  a  single  view  to  their  true  objects  and  ends;  he  was  faithful 
to  the  letter ;  he  neglected  nothing  that  belonged  to  the  station,  whether 
civil  or  military,  whether  in  detail  or  a  general  principle  •  and  when  he  re- 
tired from  them,  it  was  with  a  clear,  unclouded  retrospect  of  unequivocal 
endeavor  to  perform  his  entire  duty  to  every  intent.  Such  a  retrospect, 
from  the  eminence  he  had  attained  in  his  onward  march  toward  the  end  of 
his  brilliant  campaign  of  life,  was  a  constant  and  unfailing  source  of  comfort 
and  joy,  to  the  extreme  verge  of  his  ninety-three  years'  pilgrimage.  He 
died  September  4,  1845. 

General  Sewall  was  tall,  erect,  grave,  and  dignified  in  person  and  manners. 
His  step  was  firm  and  with  a  military  air ;  and  as  he  reached  old  age,  his 
venerable  appearance  attracted  general  attention,  and  presented  an  embodi- 
ment of  our  ideas  of  the  ancient  patriarchs. 

He  was  three  times  married  :  his  first  wife,  Tabitha,  was  his  cousin,  a 
daughter  of  John  Sewall  of  Georgetown  ;  his  second,  Rachel  Crosby  ;  the 
third,  Eliza  Lowell  of  Boston.  He  had  two  sons,  Charles  and  William,  and 
several  daughters. 


This  seems  to  be  a  suitable  place  to  make  record  of  the  officers  of  the 
District  Court  of  Maine,  from  the  beginning  to  the  present  day  ;  which  is 
accordingly  annexed. 

OFFICERS   OF    THE    UNITED   STATES    COURTS    IN   MAINE. 


David  Sewall,  .  .  appointed  Sept.  .  2G,  1789;  resigned  Jan.,  1818. 
Albion  K.  Parris,  .  .  "  .  Feb'y,  .  1818;  .  "  .  .  .1822. 
AshurWare,       .     .     .     .".     .April,.     .     1822; 


OFFICERS  OF  THE   U.  S.  COURTS. 


677 


CLERKS, 


Henry  Sewall,     .     .    appointed  Dec.     .      1,  1789 

John  Mussey "     .   Jan'y     .    1,  1819 

George  F.  Emery,  Circuit  Court,  August  .  4,  1848 
Wm.  P.  Preble,  Jr.,  Dist.  Court,  August  .  1,  1848 


resigned 


1818. 
1848. 


ATTORNEYS. 

William  Lithgow,  Jr.,  appointed  Sept.  .  26,  1789 
Daniel  Davis,     ..,.".    August    25,  1790 

Silas  Lee, "  .      July     .    27,  1801 

William  P.  Preble,  .  .  "  .  April  .  .  5,  1814 
Ether  Shepley,  .  .  .  .  "  .  Sept.  .  12,  1820 
John  Anderson,  ...  "  .  April  .  10,  1833 
Joseph  Howard,  .  .  .  "  .  .  May  .  9,  1837 
John  Holmes,  ...  "  .  February,  1841 
Gorham  Parks,  .  .  ,  "  .  August  25.  1843 
Augustine  Haines,  .  .  .  "  .  April  .  29,  1845 
George  F.  Shepley,   .    .     "  .      Nov.     .     8,  1848 

Thomas  A.  Deblois,     .     .  " 1849 

George  F.  Shepley,   .     .     " 1853 

George  F.  Talbot,   ..." 1861 


died,  . 
removed 
died,  . 
resigned, 


to    .     . 
died   .     . 
to     .     . 
resigned, 
to     .     . 
to  .     .     . 
to     .     . 


1796. 
1801. 
1814. 
1820. 
1833. 
1837. 
1841. 
1843. 
1845. 
1848. 
1849. 
1853. 
1861. 


MARSHALS. 

Henry  Dearborn,     . 

appointed  Sept.    .  26, 

1789 

resigned    . 

.   1794. 

John  Hobby,    .     .     . 

.     " 

.    Jan.    .     28, 

1794 

to  .     .     . 

.     1799. 

Isaac  Parker,     .     . 

i( 

.  March  .     6, 

1799 

removed  . 

.   1803. 

Thomas  G.  Thornton, 

.     " 

.     Dec.    .     21, 

1803 

died,  .     . 

.     1824. 

Benjamin  Green,     . 

(( 

.  Sept.     .  14, 

1824 

resigned   . 

.   1830. 

Albert  Smith,  .     .     . 

(( 

.    June   .     . 1 

1830 

;  to  .     .     . 

.     1838. 

Gorham  Parks,  .     . 

CI 

.  April     .  25, 

1838 

removed   . 

.   1841. 

John  D.  Kinsman,     . 

(( 

.     February, 

1841 

IC 

.     1844. 

Virgil  D.  Parris,      . 

tc 

.Oct.    .     11 

1844 

resigned   . 

.   1849. 

Rufus  Mclntire,   .     . 

CI 

.    Jan'y     .  15, 

1849 

removed 

1849. 

William  Paine,    .     . 

,      .   " 

.  June  .      15, 

1849 

.     "    .     . 

.    1853. 

George  W.  Stanley,   . 

IC 

.     April     .    1, 

1853  ; 

to  .     .     . 

.      1857. 

William  K.  Kimball, 

CI 

.  April  .       2, 

1857; 

to     .     .    . 

.    1861. 

Charles  Clark,       .     . 

.    " 

1861 

SHERIFFS. 


JOHN    WAITE ICIIABOD    GOODWIN CHARLES    CUSHINO  EDMUND 

BRIDGE. 


JOHN     W  A  I  T  E.       177  6-1809. 

The  first  sheriff  of  Cumberland  County  was  Moses  Pearson  of  Falmouth, 
appointed  in  17G0,  on  the  organization  of  the  county.  He  held  the  office 
until  1768,  wlien  William  Tyng  was  appointed,  and  continued  to  discharge 
its  duties  until  1775,  when,  joining  the  royalists,  he  left  the  country,  and  the 
office  became  vacant.  On  the  establishment  of  the  Provisional  Government 
in  Massachusetts,  John  Waite  of  Falmouth,  now  Portland,  the  shire-town, 
was  appointed  sheriff,  and  entered  upon  the  duties  of  the  office  in  1776. 
Mr.  Waite  was  the  fourth  child  of  John  Waite,  who  was  the  son  of  Jonadab 
AVaite,  and  was  born  in  Newbury,  Massachusetts,  in  July,  1732  :  his  mother 
was  Sarah,  a  daughter  of  John  Kent  of  Newbury.  His  father  was  born 
February  6,  1702,  married  in  1724,  and  came  to  Falmouth  about  the  year 
1738 :  his  sixth  child,  Abigail,  born  February  6,  1739,  was  the  first  of  his 
children  born  in  Falmouth,.  His  prior  children,  all  under  age,  accompanied 
him  :  he  was  an  active  and  enterprising  ship-master,  Avas  influential  in  the 
affairs  of  the  town,  and  died,  possessed  of  a  good  estate,  in  1769.  He  had 
four  sons  and  six  daughters,  who,  in  various  relations,  have  contributed  to 
the  honor  and  prosperity  of  the  town,  among  whose  population  his  posterity 
is  largely  mingled. 

John,  the  fourth  child,  began  life  as  a  mariner,  which  employment  gave 
occupation  to,  and  formed  the  energetic  character  of  many  of  the  young  men 
of  the  town  and  of  the  State  :  the  Waites,  Prebles,  Weekses,  Tuckers,  Wood- 
burys,  Greelys,  Jordans,  Pattens,  and  numerous  others  along  our  wliole  sea 
h')rder,  attest  the  energy  and  success  of  this  large  class  of  persons.     From 


JOHN   WAITE.  G79 

fore-mast-men  they  became  masters,  then  prosperous  ship-owners  and  mer- 
chants, 

In  1759,  Captain  Waite  commanded  one  of  the  transports  in  the  expedi- 
tion under  General  Wolfe,  to  Quebec.  He  sailed  from  Louisbourg,  June  4, 
1759,  in  a  company  of  eight  sail  of  the  line,  several  frigates,  and  five  ships, 
and  about  one  hundred  transports  for  the  St.  Lawrence.  They  arrived  at 
the  Isle  of  Orleans,  June  25,  and  ^continued  in  the  river,  fronting  and  near 
Quebec,  until  after  the  fall  of  that  city.  In  a  brief  diary  which  he  kept, 
he  gives  some  account  of  the  movement  of  the  troops  and  the  ships.  A 
few  extracts  may  be  interesting.  "  September  7,  1759.  This  day.  General 
Wolfe  marched  from  Point  Levi,  in  order  to  join  the  forces  above  the  town 
for  some  secret  expedition.  This  evening  passed  the  town,  two  ships,  two 
sloops,  and  one  schooner,  which  caused  a  very  smart  fire  from  both  sides 
but  without  any  damage  on  our  side.  13th.  This  morning,  about  half  a 
mile  above  Quebec,  ensued  the  greatest  battle  that  ever  was  fought  in 
America ;  in  which  we  lost  about  six  hundred  killed  and  wounded,  among 
which  was  the  brave  General  Wolfe  killed,  and  General  Moncton  wounded. 
The  enemy  left  about  thirteen  hundred  on  the  field,  besides  a  great  number 
taken,  among  whom  was  the  second  in  comma  nd  :  General  Montcalm  was 
■wounded.  14th.  We  hear  that  General  Montcalm  died  about  seven  hours 
after  the  battle.  17th.  A  flag  of  truce,  sent  from  the  town  in  order  to 
capitulate.  18th.  This  morning  our  army  took  possession  of  the  famous 
city  of  Quebec,  after  a  long  and  tedious  siege  of  near  four  months, — a  day 
ever  memorable  to  the  English  nation."  His  instructions  for  this  voyage 
are  now  in  his  family,  dated  May  15,  1769,  signed  by  "  Charles  Saunders," 
admiral,  "  on  board  of  his  majesty's  ship,  Neptune,  in  Louisbourg  harbor." 
He  successfully  accomplished  his  voyage,  and  returned  to  Falmoutli  in 
November  of  that  year.  Under  November  13,  1759,  the  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  in 
his  journal,  says,  "  I  was  to  see  John  Waite,  who  is  returned  from  the  river 
St.  Lawrence,  and  who  came  away  with  the  last  of  the  fleet."  After  this,  he 
continued  to  pursue  his  sea  life  in  foreign  and  coastwise  voyages  to  near 
the  opening  of  the  grand  drama  of  the  Revolution,  mingling  always  in  the 
aft'airs  of  the  town,  in  which,  from  his  ardent  temperament,  he  was  often 
found  taking  a  prominent  part.  In  17G3,  he  and  his  father's  family, 
becoming  disaflected  with  the  venerable  Parson  Smith,  pastor  of  the  only 
parish  in  what  is  now  Portland,  seceded,  witli  others,  from  the  parish,  and 
formed  a  new  society,  which,  after  a  serious  conflict,  adopted  the  Ei)iscopal 
form,  the  first  which  had  existed  in  the  State  since  the  early  days  of  the 
colonial  government.  In  this  conflict,  in  regard  to  the  form  of  worship. 
Captain  AVaite  and  General  Preble  came  to  blows.  Mr.  Smith's  journal  says, 
••  This  evening  the  signers  for  the  new  meeting-house  had  a  meeting,  when 

. and quarreled  and  fought  in  the  street,"  and  pertinently  adds, 

"  A  foundation  for  a  church  was  thus  laid  —  the  pillars  tremble."     The  ven- 


G80  JOHN  WAITE. 

enable  annalist  was  no  little  troubled  at  this  defection  from  his  society  :  the 
AVaites  were  a  large  and  iutliiential  family,  and  drew  olT  much  support  from 
the  old  parish :  in  his  grief,  he  exclaimed,  "  I  have  been  discouraged  about 
my  enemies :  they  talk  of  a  new  meeting  house."  He  was  fearful  of  the 
consequences,  but  his  wit  did  not  forsake  him  —  he  said,  "  The  parish  is 
like  a  clock,  when  the  JJ'aites  are  off,  it  will  stop."  Mr.  Waite  became  one  of 
the  most  efficient  supporters  of  the  Episcopal  Church  in  Portland,  which 
separated  from  the  first  parish,  in  17G3,  and  jn  176i  voted  to  adopt  the 
Episcopal  form  of  worship.  The  Rev.  John  Wiswall,  in  1704,  was  sent  by 
the  society  to  England  for  ordination :  in  their  invitation  to  him,  they  say, 
"  We  desire  you  would,  as  soon  as  may  be,  apply  to  his  lordship,  the  Bishop 
of  London,  for  ordination  to  qualify  you  therefor."  In  December  of  the 
same  year,  Mr.  Wiswall  wrote  to  the  warden  and  vestry  of  the  church, 
addressed  to  Captain  Waite,  who  was  one  of  the  vestry,  if  not  the  warden, 
in  which  he  says,  "  Your  petition  to  the  Venerable  Society  for  propagating 
the  Gospel,  was  laid  before  them,  and  the  members  were  unanimously  of  the 
opinion  that  Falmouth  is  a  very  proper  place  for  a  church ;  and  they  readily 
agreed  to  do  something  toward  the  support  of  a  missionary  there." 

Mr.  Wiswall  kept  up  the  most  friendly  intercourse  with  Colonel  Waite, 
until  the  opening  scenes  of  the  Revolution  caused  a  final  separation.  Mr. 
Wiswall,  in  May,  1775,  went  on  board  the  English  man-of-war,  Canceau, 
under  Captain  Mowat,  then  lying  in  Falmouth  harbor,  from  which  he  wrote 
an  earnest  and  persuasive  letter  to  his  friend  Waite,  urging  him  to  abandon 
measures  of  opposition  to  the  mother  country,  and  apologizing  for  the 
course  he  took  himself.  He  says,  "  I  know  the  people  are  acting  a  very 
wrong  part :  I  am  determined  never  to  join  them  in  a  rebellion.  Now  the 
sword  is  drawn,  I  must  obey  God  rather  than  man ;  and  agreeable  to  the 
dictates  of  my  conscience,  though  at  the  hazard  of  everything  that  is 
dear  to  me.  Let  me  ask  you,  my  dear  friend,  when  you  first  joined  Free- 
man, Preble,  &c.,  did  you  suspect  that  they  would  ever  draw  tlie  sword 
against  their  king?  Why  will  you  rashly  engage  in  these  measures  which 
may  prove  the  ruin  of  yourself,  your  family,  and  country  1  How  unhappy 
shall  I  be,  if  the  phrenzy  of  the  times  should  dissolve  that  friendship 
between  us,  which  I  have  thought  not  death  itself  would  put  an  end  to. 
Nor  shall  anything  ever  make  me  forget  you,  cease  loving  you,  praying  for 
you,  and  exerting  my  best  ability,  to  promote  the  spiritual  and  temporal 
interest  of  you  and  yours." 

At  the  commencement  of  the  troubles  with  Great  Britain,  Captain  Waite 
espoused  with  ardor  the  cause  of  the  colonies,  and  took  a  leading  part  in  the 
measures  of  resistance  adopted  by  the  town  of  Falmouth.  In  1772,  he  was 
one  of  a  large  and  respectable  committee,  of  which  Enoch  Freeman  was  chair- 
man, to  prepare  instructions  to  William  Tyng,  then  the  representative  to  the 
General  Court.     In  1774,  he  was  chosen  a  memberof  a  convention,  composed 


JOHN   WAITE  :   REVOLUTION   SCENES.  681 

of  delegates  from  the  towns  in  the  county,  "  to  consider  what  measures  it  will 
bo  expedient  to  adopt  for  the  general  interest  of  the  county  in  the  present 
alarming  situation  of  our  pubhc  affairs."  The  convention  met  in  September, 
and  summoned  Slieriff  Tyng  before  them,  who,  after  being  interrogated  and 
signing  a  declaration  satisfactory  to  the  convention,  was  discharged.  They 
took  a  general  supervision  of  the  affairs  and  opinions  of  the  people ;  they 
were  empowered  to  regulate  intercourse  and  prevent  the  violation  of  the  non- 
importation agreement;  to  check  disorders  and  mob  violence;  and  watch 
over  the  liberties  and  rights  of  the  people.  A  committee  of  "  inspection" 
was  also  chosen,  of  which  Theophilus  Parsons,  afterwards  the  distinguished 
chief  justice,  was  one,  and  clerk  of  the  body  :  Captain  Waito  was  one  of  the 
committee.  I  have  before  me  an  original  record  of  two  meetings  of  the 
committee  in  the  handwriting  and  with  the  attestation  of  Mr.  Parsons,  bear- 
ing date  in  March  and  April,  1775.  The  power  assumed  and  exercised  by 
this  body  was  of  the  most  extraordinary  kind,  and  not  to  be  endured  except 
in  extraordinary  emergencies.  They  were  spies  upon  all  the  transactions  of 
the  people,  and  visited  with  public  censure  and  indignation,  and  often  some- 
thing worse,  those  who  were  found  to  transgress  the  rules  of  this  tribunal. 
They  were  in  constant  correspondence  with  similar  committees  in  Boston 
and  elsewhere.  Some  of  their  votes  will  serve  as  an  illustration :  "  Voted, 
that  Captain  P.  [PoteJ  bo  ordered  to  go  to  the  General  Court  by  land,  on  or 
before  Thursday  next,  to  answer  for  his  conduct  with  respect  to  his  export- 
ing fish."     "  Voted,  that  a  committee  wait  on  Mrs.  Ross  concerning  a  letter 

sent  her  from  Boston."     "  Voted,  that be  a  committee  to  inspect  inward 

and  outward  bound  vessels." 

In  these  transactions.  Captain  Waite,  by  his  intelligence  and  activity,  ac- 
quired a  high  degree  of  popularity;  and  in  177G,  honors  and  office  were  ac- 
cumulated upon  him.  In  that  year,  he  represented  the  town  in  the  Provin- 
cial Congress;  was  chosen  town  treasurer,  and  annually  re-elected  to  1785  ; 
was  apponited  sheriff  of  the  county,  and  colonel  of  the  first  regiment.  He 
was  also  appointed  under  the  absentee  act  of  1777,  an  agent  for  the  estates 
of  absentees  in  the  county  of  Cumberland.  Tristram  Jordan  was  appointed 
to  the  same  office  in  York  County,  and  Rowland  Cashing  for  Lincoln  County. 

It  is  evident  from  the  secret  history  of  the  times,  which  we  get  from  pri- 
vate correspondence  and  other  sources  as  it  is  slowly  disclosed,  that  at  the 
commencement  of  the  war  there  were  two  parties  among  the  whigs,  one  of 
which  was  determined  to  push  matters  to  extremities  for  the  independence 
of  the  colonies :  another  party,  more  conservative,  was  fearful  of  the  issue, 
thought  it  presumptuous  to  make  the  attempt,  and  hoped  for  an  accoramo« 
dation  of  the  troubles.  These  persons  Avere  very  cautious  in  the  expression 
of  their  opinions,  but  their  true  feeling  is  exhibited  in  their  confidential  cor- 
respondence. One  such  letter  we  have  before  us,  addressed  to  Colonel  Waite 
by  Theophilus  Parsons,  from  Byfield,  to  which  place  he  had  retired  after  the 
44 


G82  JOHN  waite:  the  revolution. 

burning  of  the  town.  It  is  dated  March  12,  '177G,  and  while  it  conveys  a 
favorable  impression  of  Colonel  Waite,  it  gives  us  a  little  specimen  of  secret 
history.  We  make  some  extracts  from  it.  "  Some  designing  men  among 
you  have  overshot  their  mark,  and  are  now  receiving  the  reward  of  their 
doings.  I  should  bo  resigned  to  the  dispensation,  if  the  innocent  did  not 
sutler  with  the  guilty.  I  can  acquit  you  of  being  an  author  of  the  troubles 
of  the  town.  I  now  please  myself  that  the  aspect  of  our  public  affairs  is  a 
little  brighter.  I  believe  we  shall  have  commissioners  to  try  to  settle  the 
dispute.  Most  of  the  people  are  sick  of  it,  and  would  gladly  terminate  it,  if 
left  to  their  own  judgment."  "  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  many  of  our  pres- 
ent leaders  will  oppose  any  accommodation ;  and  some  would  choose  rather 
to  support  the  war  alone,  than  accept  any."  lie  ufges  him  to  make  interest 
to  go  to  the  next  Provincial  Congress,  as  they  need  conservative  men  there : 
he  says:  "  You  ought  to  stand  forward — to  make  interest  to  go  yourself, 
instead  of  your  present  member.  I  do  not  mean  to  flatter  you.  I  suppose 
others  are  as  capable  as  you  are,  but  they  have  not  interest  suflicieflt  to 
carry  an  election ;  you  have."  Samuel  Freeman  was  the  "  present  member  " 
referred  to.  At  the  next  election,  four  members  were  returned  from  Fal- 
mouth ;  viz..  Brigadier  Preble,  Joseph  Noyes,  Mr.  Freeman,  and  Col.  Waite. 

Besides  discl-.arging  the  duties  of  the  several  offices  which  were  conferred 
upon  him  in  177G,  he  was  employed  in  looking  after  the  defenses  of  the 
town,  and  making  provision  for  the  inhabitants  who  suffered  in  the  confla- 
gration. In  a  letter  of  April  24,  1776,  addressed  to  Mr.  Freeman  at  Water- 
town,  where  he  was  in  attendance  upon  the  Congress,  he  says:  "  The  select- 
men are  preparing  tools,  agreeable  to  the  militia  act,  as  fast  as  possible,  part 
of  which  are  already  made,  and  sent  to  the  commanding  officer  for  the  men 
to  work  with.  I  need  not  mention  the  distress  of  the  poor  sufferers  in  this 
town  which  daily  increases,  and  everything  in  our  power  ought  to  be  done 
for  their  relief." 

In  1777,  several  of  the  inhabitants  of  Falmouth,  "  taking  into  considera- 
tion the  glorious  victory  obtained  by  the  army  of  the  United  States,"  sub- 
scribed "  to  procure  a  good  beef  ox  to  distribute  to  the  families  of  the  non- 
commissioned officers  and  soldiers  "  belonging  to  the  town  who  were  in  that 
battle.  [General  Gates's  victory.]  Colonel  Waite  was  chairman  of  the  com- 
mittee to  make  the  purchase  and  attend  to  the  duty.  They  also  celebrated 
the  event  by  a  public  dinner.  In  Fehruary,  1778,  he  issued  the  following 
advertisement :  "  Whereas  a  subscription  is  opened  for  the  soldiers  who  en- 
listed from  this  town  into  the  continental  army,  and  are  now  in  camp  desti- 
tute of  shoes,  stockings,  and  shirts,  I  make  no  doubt  but  every  person  who 
does  not  (like  the  Israelites  of  old)  wish  to  return  into  bondage  again,  will 
contribute  either  shoes,  stockings,  shirts,  or  cash  to  be  sent  by  Lieut.  Lunt, 
for  the  immediate  relief  of  said  soldiers.  Any  of  the  above  articles  will  be 
received  by  the  subscriber's  humhle  servant,  John  Waite."     Wc  introduce 


JOHN   WAITE  ;    COURT  PROCEEDINGS.  683 

these  papers  to  show  the  interest  and  the  part  he  took  in  the  measures  to 
establish  the  independence  of  the  country.  In  1779,  his  oldest  son,  Henry, 
then  but  seventeen  years  old,  was  a  volunteer  in  the  Bagaduce  expedition. 

He  was  constantly  employed  in  various  important  services  of  a  public 
nature  through  the  war,  in  correspondence  with  official  persons  at  the  seat 
of  government  and  other  places,  in  raising  troops  and  in  furnishing  supplies. 
At  the  close  of  the  war,  he  engaged  in  works  for  the  improvement  of  his 
private  estate,  which  was  large,  and  in  building  up  the  desolate  town. 

When  he  entered  upon  the  office  of  sheriff,  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas 
consisted  of  Enoch  Freeman,  who  was  appointed  judge  in  17G0,  and  held  the 
office  twenty-nine  years  ;  Jeremiah  Powell  of  North  Yarmouth,  appointed  in 
17G3,  and  held  the  office  nineteen  years  ;  Jonas  Mason,  1773  to  1777  ;  Solo- 
mon Loml)ard,  1776  to  1781,  who  took  Moses  Pearson's  place,  who  retired  in 
1775,  at  the  age  of  eighty.  Samuel  Freeman  was  the  clerk.  The  business 
of  the  courts  was  very  small :  the  whole  number  of  entries  for  seven  years, 
from  177G  to  1782  inclusive,  was  only  one  hundred  and  ninety-eight.  The 
last  court  in  Cumberland  County,  held  under  royal  authority,  was  July  25, 
1775  ;  it  was  the  "  Inferior  Court  of  Common  Pleas,"  and  the  record  of  the 
term  thus  commences,  "  Cumberland,  ss.  Anno  Regni  Regis  Georgii  tertii  Mag- 
naj  Britannia},  Francia;,  et  Hibernioi  decimo  quinto :  "  that  is,  in  the  fifteenth 
year  of  the  reign  of  George  III.,  King  of  Great  Britain,  France,  and  Ireland. 
The  court  consisted  of  Powell,  Freeman,  Mason,  and  Pearson  ;  —  Stephen 
Longfellow,  clerk.  The  following  memorandum  is  made :  "No  jurors  re- 
turned and  empanelled  this  court.  The  sheriff  nor  crier  did  not  attend  this 
court."  Tyng,  the  sheriff,  had  fled  from  town,  and  abandoned  his  duties. 
There  were  no  actions  entered,  and  but  two  continued  actions  on  the  docket, 
in  which  judgment  was  rendered. 

No  Supreme  Court  was  held  in  Maine  that  j'ear.  All  the  judges  were 
torios  but  William  Gushing:  they  were  Edmund  Trowbridge,  who  remained 
in  the  country  unmolested,  but  went  out  of  office:  he  died  in  1793;  Foster 
Hutchinson,  a  brother  of  Governor  Hutchinson,  who  left  the  country,  as  did 
also  the  fourth  judge,  William  Browne  of  Salem.  There  are  no  records  in  our 
public  offices  of  the  Supreme  Court  in  Maine,  earlier  than  1798 :  prior  to 
that  time  they  were  kept  in  Boston.  The  term  was  held  in  July.  In  1798, 
■when  our  records  conmience,  the  term  was  held  by  Dana,  chief  justice, 
Robert  Treat  Paine,  Theophilus  Bradbury,  Nathan  Gushing,  and  Thomas 
Dawes,  Jr. 

The  first  term  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  held  under  the  new  govern- 
ment, was  in  October,  1770:  the  judges  were  Powell,  Freeman,  Mason,  and 
Lombard  :  the  latter  had  been  a  minister  in  Gorham.  Samuel  Freeman  was 
clerk  ;  John  Waite,  sheriff;  Timothy  Cutler,  crier.  The  record  commences 
thus  ;  "  Cumberland,  ss.  In  the  year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand  seven  hund- 
dred  seventy-six.    At  an  Inferior  Court  of  Common  Pleas."    The  flrst  judg- 


G84  JOHN  WAITE. 

ment  in  a  criminal  cause  in  this  court  was  rendered  at  the  March  term,  1778, 
and  was  in  the  name  of  the  "  Qovcrnment  and  People."  At  the  Octoher  term, 
1782,  Robert  Treat  Paine,  as  attorney  general,  entered  complaints  for  forfeit- 
ure of  land,  against  several  former  inhabitants  of  Falmouth,  who  were  ref- 
ugees in  the  Revolution.  The  business  of  this  court  was  very  small  at  that 
time,  the  record  of  judgments  from  October  term,  177G,  to  October  term, 
1782,  inclusive,  occupying  only  one  luuulred  and  three  folio  pages. 

Colonel  Waite  held  the  office  of  sheriff  until  180'.),  a  period  of  thirty-four 
years.  During  that  time  he  led  the  venerable  procession  of  the  judges  and 
the  bar,  which,  at  the  opening  of  every  term,  proceeded  with  great  formality 
to  the  court-house,  and  on  the  first  day  of  the  term  to  the  public  dinner, 
with  which  the  occasion  was  invariably  celebrated.  It  was  at  one  of  these 
dinners  that  Chief  Justice  Parsons  gave  the  toast  which  Judge  Mellen  used 
to  tell  with  a  relish.  "  At  a  court  dinner,  composed  of  the  judges  and  mem- 
bers of  the  bar,  federalists  and  democrats.  Chief  Justice  Parsons  said : 
'  Gentlemen,  before  leaving  the  table  I  will  take  one  glass  of  wine,  and  will 
give  my  old  toast.  I  know  it  is  a  party  one,  but  I  can't  help  it,  we  live  in 
party  times.  Gentlemen,  my  toast  is,  All  honest  men.'  "  We  may  place  along 
side  of  this  another  toast,  given  by  Judge  Parsons  at  a  social  meeting  of  the 
Boston  Bar:  "The  laws  of  the  land,  —  the  common  law  for  the  people  ;  the 
civil  law  for  our  friends  ;  and  the  cannon  law  for  our  enemies." 

Cob  Waite's  official  life  outlasted  that  of  Gushing,  the  first  chief  justice,  and 
those  of  Foster,  Sullivan,  Paine,  Sargent,  Nathan  Gushing,  Dawes,  Bradbury, 
and  Simeon  Strong,  and  the  judicial  term  of  David  Sewall  on  that  bench. 
These  were  the  firstjudges  under  the  commonwealth  a})pointed  to  1801.  lie  at- 
tended upon  the  elegant  and  dignified  Chief  Justice  Dana  for  twenty  years, 
and  his  successor,  Chief  Justice  Parsons,  who  was  the  sheriff's  early  com- 
panion and  friend  ;  upon  the  dignified  Sumner  ;  the  severe  and  blunt  Paine  ; 
the  wise  and  modest  Samuel  Sewall,  successor  to  Parsons ;  Thacher, 
Sedgwick,  and  Parker.  This  procession  of  eminent  men,  the  .sheriff  who 
led  them  off,  the  clerk  who  recorded  their  doings,  and  all  but  two  of  the 
members  of  the  bar  who  followed  in  this  march  to  the  high  seat  of  justice, 
have  gone  to  a  higher  tribunal,  in  which  an  immutable  and  eternal  Judge 
pronounces  his  just  and  irreversible  decrees.  The  sheriff,  as  he  appeared  on 
these  occasions,  sixty  years  ago,  stands  before  me;  his  venerable  figure, 
which  had  weathered  the  storms  of  seventy  years,  still  erect,  of  medium 
height  and  rather  broad,  crowned  with  a  three-cornered  cocked  hat  of  the 
Revolutionary  model,  blue  coat  with  bright  buttons,  a  buff  vest,  and  a  sword 
by  his  side ;  his  countenance  grave,  not  to  say  stern,  as  he  seemed  to  the 
juvenile  mind,  which  associated  harsh  duties  with  his  ofHce ;  heavy,  over- 
hanging eyebrows,  and  his  white  staff,  the  badge  of  his  office,  in  hand,  had 
an  imx)Osing  effect  upon  all  spectators,  old  as  well  as  young. 

In  July,  1800,  Colonel  Waite,  having  arrived  at  the  age  of  seventy-seven, 


JOHN   WAITE  :   ICHABOD   GOODWIN.  685 

after  a  correspondence  on  the  subject  ■with  Chief  Justice  Parsons,  placed  in 
his  hands  a  letter  to  be  delivered  to  Governor  Gore,  resigning  his  office.  In 
his  letter  to  Judge  Parsons,  he  says  :  "  Infirmity  incident  to  old  age  is  the 
lot  of  man  ;  it  creeps  upon  us  insensibly.  I  shall  continue  to  hold  the  office 
until  a  successor  shall  be  appointed."  His  resignation  was  accepted,  and 
Colonel  Richard  Ilunnewell  was  appointed  his  successor.  Colonel  Hunne- 
well  had  been  the  first  sheriff  of  Hancock  County  :  his  wife  was  Miss  Hall 
of  Boston,  a  sister  of  Judge  Parker's  wife :  the  two  young  men  commenced 
life  in  the  new  county  of  Hancock.  He  held  the  office  there  until  1798, 
when,  having  been  appointed  a  colonel  in  the  Oxford  army  under  President 
Adams,  he  resigned  the  office,  and  after  the  war  he  follojved  his  brother-in- 
law,  Parker,  to  Portland,  where  he  died  in  1823,  at  the  age  of  sixty-five. 

Colonel  Waite  survived  the  resignation  of  his  office  several  years,  and 
died  in  Portland  in  1820,  at  the  age  of  eighty-eight.  He  married,  January 
15,  1759,  Hannah,  the  second  of  the  three  daughters  of  Phineas  Jones,  one 
of  the  most  enterprising  and  valuable  citizens  of  Falmouth,  who  died  at  the 
early  age  of  thirty-eight  in  1743.  She  was  born  October  6,  1738 :  by  her  he 
had  thirteen  children,  nine  sons  and  four  daughters,  the  youngest  of  whom, 
a  daughter,  born  in  1783,  only  survives,  the  widow  of  Captain  Samuel  Mc- 
Lellan.  Another  daughter  was  the  mother  of  Thomas  and  Edward  Motley, 
long-honored  merchants  in  Boston,  and  grandmother  of  the  distinguished 
historian  of  the  Dutch  Bepublic, —  John  Lathrop  Motley.  Of  course,  the 
sheriff  was  his  great-grandfather.  lie  survived  all  his  sons,  and  after  a  long 
and  varied  life,  he  went  to  the  grave  under  the  burden  of  many  years  and 
many  sorrows. 

ICIIABOD     GOODWIN.      1793  —  1820. 

Sheriff  Goodwin,  like  Sheriffs  Waite  of  Cumberland  and  Bridge  of  Lincoln, 
rendered  good  service  to  the  cause  of  the  country  during  the  war  of  the 
Revolution  ;  and  they  received  the  reward  of  tlieir  ^services  in  the  offices 
which  they  held  :  tlie  shortest  being  near  a  quarter  of  a  century.  It  was 
an  honored  practice,  on  the  restoration  of  peace,  to  confer  upon  those  who 
had  devoted  themselves  and  their  property  to  accomplish  the  independence 
of  their  country,  the  honors  and  emoluments  of  office,  as  a  just  acknowl- 
edgment of  their  services. 

Ichabod  Goodwin,  one  of  these  deserving  men,  was  born  in  what  is  now 
South  Berwick,  May  25,  1743.  His  father  was  Captain  Ichabod  Goodwin, 
born  in  the  same  town  in  1700,  who  was  the  son  of  Thomas  Ooo<lwin,  the 
first  immigrant  of  the  family  to  the  ancient  town  of  Berwick,  who  came  to 
this  country  in  ICt'.O. 

A  portion  of  the  land  on  which  this  ancestor  settled  in  South  Berwick, 


68G  ICHABOD   GOODWIN. 

and  which  constituted  his  farm,  and  on  which  the  sherifl'  was  horn,  still 
remains  in  the  familj- ;  and  traces  of  the  cellar  on  which  the  farm  house 
once  stood  are  still  visible.  It  was  a  beautiful  spot,  from  which  could  be 
seen  the  village  of  Dover,  and  a  large  sweep  of  surrounding  country, 
through  which  the  Piscataqua  River,  the  boundary  of  Maine  and  New 
Hampshire,  pours  its  fertilizing  waters. 

In  1754,  his  father' was  a  member  of  the  General  Court  of  Massachusetts, 
and  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  French  war,  received  a  commission  as 
captain  in  the  Provincial  army,  and  raised  a  company  from  among  hia 
neighbors  and  friends.  In  1758,  he  was  ordered  to  Lake  George,  and  took 
with  him  his  son,  Ichabod,  then  but  fifteen  years  old :  they  were  with  General 
Abercrombie  in  his  unsuccessful  attack  upon  Ticonderoga,  in  which  he  was 
defeated,  with  the  loss  of  two  thousand  men.  Captain  Goodwin,  the  father, 
■was  wounded  in  the  battle,  and  returned  home  with  his  son,  who  received 
his  father's  sword  as  a  trophy  of  the  engagement.  After  his  return,  he 
employed  himself  upon  his  father's  farm,  and  as  a  surveyor  of  land,  for 
which  his  services  were  often  sought,  until  the  busy  scenes  preliminary  to 
actual  hostilities  with  the  mother  country  gave  a  new  direction  to  his  patri- 
otic impulses. 

In  these  movements,  he  was  an  unflinching  whig,  and  took  an  active  part. 
In  the  years  1775,  'G,  '7,  he  was  a  member  of  the  Provincial  Congress,  and 
was  present  when  the  place  of  meeting,  at  Cambridge,  was  surrounded  by 
British  troops,  which  led  to  the  adjournment  to  Concord ;  and  then,  in 
April,  on  account  of  the  attack  upon  Concord,  to  Watertown.  In  Novem- 
ber, 1775,  he  was  appointed  by  the  Provincial  Council,  with  Colonel  John 
Baker  and  several  other  officers  and  civilians,  to  purchase  arms  for  the 
Provincial  troops  :  in  the  resolve  he  is  styled  captain. 

When  the  prisoners  of  Burgoyne's  army  were  sent  to  Cambridge,  the 
regiment  of  militia  belonging  to  York  County  was  detailed  as  a  guard  for 
the  prisoners,  and  Avas  stationed  at  Winter  and  Prospect  Hills.  Mr.  Goodwin 
was  lieutenant  colonel  of  the  regiment,  which  was  commanded  by  Colonel 
Gerrish.  The  order  book  which  Colonel  Goodwin  kept,  is  preserved,  and 
gives  an  account  of  each  day's  proceedings,  until  the  prisoners  were  sent  to 
Kutland  and  otherwise  disposed  of.  The  discipline  of  the  camp  was  strictly 
maintained,  and  interesting  incidents  are  recorded,  as  they  occurred  during 
this  year  of  camp  service.  Among  them  are  several  cases  of  trial  by  courts 
martial  for  desertion  and  other  crimes,  in  which  the  sentence  of  death  by 
shooting  was  decreed  for  desertion,  and  whipping,  or  fine  and  imprisonment, 
for  other  crimes.  The  prisoners  were  allowed  many  privileges  :  the  officers, 
especially,  were  permitted  to  roam  over  a  large  extent  of  territory,  for  exer- 
cise, under  their  parole,  which  was  not  infrequently  abused,  and  occasional 
riots  occurred,  which  caused  stricter  orders  to  be  issued  and  narrower  limits 
to  be  prescribed.     The  following  order  is  taken  from  this  book  :  "  June  11, 


ICHABOD   GOODWIN.  687 

1778.  A  strict  and  watchful  eye  is  to  be  kept  over  the  prisoners  of  war 
removed  this  morning  from  the  guard  ships  to  Prospect  Hill.  They  are  to 
be  quartered  as  compact  together  as  possible,  and  the  sentries  are  to  have  a 
particular  charge  respecting  them.  No  one  of  them  is  to  be  allowed  a  pass 
under  any  pretence  of  being  a  servant  to  any  officer,  or  to  come  without  the 
chain  of  sentries  on  any  pretence  whatever,  without  express  leave  in  writing 
from  the  general."  Lieut.  Brown,  one  of  the  prisoners,  undertook  to  violate 
this  order,  and  was  driving  over  the  lines  in  a  carriage  with  two  women,  one 
on  each  side  of  him,  when  he  was  challenged  by  the  sentinel,  and  informed 
what  his  orders  Avere:  he  recklessly  disregarded  the  challenge,  and  was 
driving  on,  when  the  sentinel  discharged  his  piece  and  shot  him  dead,  with- 
out injuring  the  women.  A  court  of  inquiry  was  held  in  the  case,  and  on 
the  facts  being  proved,  the  sentinel  was  acquitted.  The  lieutenant  was 
buried  under  orders  from  the  general,  with  the  marks  of  respect  duo  to  his 
rank ;  but  the  commanding  officer,  on  account  of  the  commotion  among 
the  prisoners  in  consequence  of  this  affair,  was  required  during  the  funeral 
ceremonies  to  have  "  all  the  guards  under  arms  at  their  respective  guard 
houses,  and  the  officers  and  men  off  duty,  to  be  at  their  regimental  parades." 
In  1780,  he  was  appointed  by  the  government  of  Massachusetts,  superin- 
tendent of  the  troops  to  be  enlisted  in  the  county  of  York  for  the  continental 
array ; —  the  number  for  the  State  then  called  out  was  four  thousand,  two 
hundred  and  ninety  ;  for  York  County,  two  hundred  and  two. 

After  the  war,  he  returned  to  the  peaceful  pursuits  of  private  life  ;  but 
he  was  soon  calleA  again  into  the  public  service ;  first,  as  major  general  of 
the  militia  of  York  County,  which,  under  a  new  arrangement,  in  1793, 
formed  the  sixth  division  of  the  militia  of  Massachusetts :  in  1792,  he  was . 
chosen  the  representative  of  Berwick  to  the  General  Court,  and  the  next 
year  was  appointed  sheriff  of  the  county  of  York,  as  successor  to  Sheriff 
Moulton.  The  duties  of  this  office  he  discharged  with  honor  and  fidelity 
twenty-seven  years,  with  the  exception  of  a  few  months  in  Governor  Gerry's 
administration,  until  the  separation  of  the  State  in  1820  ;  when,  at  the  ago 
of  seventy-seven  years,  he  retired  from  all  official  station,  having  been  in 
public  life  with  only  occasional  and  brief  intermissions,  for  more  than  fifty 
years.  His  first  commission  as  lieutenant,  he  received  under  George  III., 
from  which  he  rose  under  the  government  of  Massachusetts,  through 
various  grades,  to  the  highest  rank  in  the  militia, —  a  major  general.  He 
was  colonel  of  the  second  regiment  in  York  County,  in  1780.  While  holding 
the  office  of  major  general,  during  the  war  of  1812,  his  division  was  called 
into  service,  and  portions  of  it  stationed,  under  his  superintendance,  at 
Kittery  Point,  York,  and  other  exposed  places.  In  1815,  after  the  war,  he 
resigned  his  commission. 

It  is  alike  honorable  to  General  Goodwin  and  to  Governor  Sullivan,  that 
in  1807,  when  Mr.  Sullivan  was  governor,  and  parly  excitemeut  was  raging 


688  ICHABOD   GOODWIN. 

bitterly  through  the  Commonwealth,  the  executive  was  vehemently  urged  to 
remove  Sheriff  Goodwin,  ami  appoint  one  of  his  own  party  friends.  But 
Sheriff  Goodwin  was  a  townsman  of  Governor  Sullivan,  of  the  same  age,  and 
they  were  early  schoolmates  :  ho  steadily  resisted,  during  the  nearly  two  years 
of  his  administration,  all  eflbrts  to  remove  the  old  sherill":  liis  constant 
reply  was,  "  I  know  the  sheriff  of  York  County.  I  cannot  remove  him," 
Not  so,  however.  Gov.  Gerry,  for  in  1811,  when  he  came  into  power,  he 
made  haste  to  remove  all  the  old  officers  he  could  reach,  sheriffs,  clerks, 
&c.,  and  a  general  commotion  was  raised  all  over  the  State  among  the  dry 
bones  of  the  old  office-holders.  Even  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  was 
abolished  to  bring  in  new  judges,  and  new  participants  of  i)ublic  i)atronage. 
Among  these,  in  the  old  counties,  were  Goodwin,  sheriff,  and  Daniel  Sewall, 
clerk,  in  York ;  Ilunnewell,  sheriff,  and  Freeman,  clerk,  in  Cumberland  ; 
and  Bridge,  sheriff,  and  Alden  Bradford,  clerk,  in  Lincoln.  Colonel  Lane, 
who  was  appointed  sheriff  of  York  in  this  revolution,  sent  word  to  Sheriff 
Goodwin,  that  he  would  meet  him  in  York,  and  take  delivery  of  the  county 
property  under  his  charge.  The  old  sheriii"  promptly  met  him,  and  after 
accomplishing  the  business,  invited  Colonel  Lano  to  spend  the  night  with 
him  at  Berwick,  which  the  new  sheriff  gracefully  accepted,  and  was  hospit- 
ably entertained.  The  next  year,  Governor  Strong  returned  to  power,  and 
the  old  officers  were  generally  restored  to  their  places;  then  General 
Goodwin  sent  to  Colonel  Lane,  who  resided  at  HoUis,  informing  him  that  he 
had  been  qualified  as  sheriff  of  York,  and  requested  him  to  meet  him  at 
the  county  seat,  and  re-deliver  the  i:)ublic  property  :  he  invited  him  to  come 
to  his  house,  and  they  would  proceed  the  following  day  and  attend  to  the 
duty.  The  Colonel,  not  behind  General  Goodwin  in  courtesy,  waited  upon 
him  at  his  house,  and  they  proceeded  in  the  kindest  manner  to  i)erform  the 
necessary  duties  of  the  occasion.  Pleasant  incidents  these,  in  the  irritating 
controversies  which  cloud  party  conflicts.  In  1800,  Sheriff  Goodwin  waa 
appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  to  adjust  the  controversy  between  the 
Pejepscot  proprietors  and  the  settlers  upon  their  land :  the  other  commis- 
sioners were  Nathaniel  Dummer  and  John  Lord.  Under  their  award,  about 
twenty  thousand  acres  were  conveyed  to  the  settlers. 

Sheriff  Goodwin  died  peacefully,  without  a  struggle  and  without  a  pang, 
of  old  age.  May  25,  1829,  on  his  birth-day,  precisely  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
six.  He  had  a  family  of  eleven  children,  five  sons  and  six  daughters  ;  five 
of  whom,  three  daughters  and  two  sons,  survived  him.  His  oldest  son, 
Ichabod,  died  in  1814.  Two  of  his  sons,  Dominicus  and  James  Scaniman, 
were  graduates  of  Dartmouth  College  in  the  class  of  1811  :  Dominicus 
studied  law,  and  had  just  opened  an  office  in  South  Berwick,  when  he 
suddenly  died  from  exposure  and  fatigue  in  assisting  in  throwing  up  defen- 
sive works  in  Portsmouth  harbor,  in  tho  Avar  of  1812:  James  studied 
medicine  with  Dr.  Hazeltine  of  South  Berwick,  and  at  the  Dartmouth  Medical 


CHARLES  GUSHING.  689 

School,  and  now  resides  in  Portland.  Governor  Ichabod  Goodwin  of  New 
Hampshire  is  Sheriff  Goodwin's  nephew,  a  son  of  his  brother,  Samuel. 
The  sheriff  was  short  in  stature  and  compact!}'  built,  erect  and  muscular : 
in  the  latter  part  of  his  life,  he  became  very  corpulent. 

CHARLES     CUSniNG.      1761  —  1783. 

We  have  repeatedly  spoken  in  previous  pages  of  Mr.  Gushing,  in  connec- 
tion with  his  distinguished  brothers,  William  and  Roland,  all  of  whom 
settled  in  the  county  of  Lincoln.  They  belonged  to  one  of  the  most 
honored  and  conspicuous  families  in  New  England.  They  were  sons  of 
John  Gushing,  Jr.,  of  Scituate,  who  was  a  judge  of  the  Superior  Gourt  of 
Massachusetts,  from  1747  to  1771,  and  whose  father  was  John  Gushing, 
born  in  Scituate  in  16G2,  a  son  of  Hon.  John  Gushing,  and  was  ten 
years  a  member  of  the  governor's  council,  and  a  judge  of  the  Superior 
Court  of  Massachusetts,  from  1729  to  1733:  they  all  seem  to  have  been 
bred  in  courts.  Charles,  the  subject  of  our  notice,  was  born  in  Scituate, 
August  13,  1734,  graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1755,  and  was  educated 
for  the  bar.  But  on  the  organization  of  the  county  of  Lincoln  in  1700,  he 
was  appointed  the  first  sherit!"  and  came  into  the  county  in  1761,  about  the 
same  time  with  his  brother  William,  Sheriff  Bridge,  and  Judge  Bowman. 
He  was  also  appointed  collector  of  excise  for  the  county.  They  all  estab- 
Hshed  themselves  at  Pownalboro',  now  Dresden,  which  was  made  the  shire- 
town,  being  conveniently  situated  on  the  Kennebec  River,  about  thirty 
miles  from  its  mouth. 

Although  the  country  was  thinly  settled  and  in  a  rude  state,  these 
gentlemen,  and  the  Rev.  Jacob  Bailey,  an  Episcopal  missionary,  who  also 
settled  in  Pownalboro'  in  1760,  under  the  auspices  of  the  Society  for  Propa- 
gating the  Gospel  in  Foreign  Parts,  all  graduates  of  Harvard,  and  three  of 
them  classmates,  viz..  Gushing,  Bailey,  and  Bowman,  formed  a  society,  as 
enlightened  as  it  was  genial  and  courtly.  Thej'  all  had  families ;  Charles 
Gushing  having  married,  August  25,  1768,  Elizabeth,  a  daughter  of  Increase 
and  Sarah  {  Sharp  )  Sumner,  and  sister  of  Governor  Increase  Sumner  of 
Massachusetts.  It  would  be  rare  to  And  at  any  time,  in  so  small  a  popula- 
tion, so  many  refined  and  highly  educated  people. 

The  town  was  first  named  Frankfort,  from  a  fort  of  that  name  in  its  limits, 
and  was  settled  by  immigrants  from  Germany,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Rhine, 
who  were  invited  by  the  proprietors  of  the  Plymouth  patent  to  occupy  their 
vacant  land,  on  favorable  terms.  They  were  poor  and  ignorant,  but 
industrious  and  honest.  Things  went  smoothly  on  in  this  happy  conmuuiily 
for  some  time,  enlivened  by  visits  occnsionally  from  Governor  Pownal ;  Dr. 
Gardiner,  a  large  proprietor  there,  and  portions  of  his  family  ;  Mr.  Bowdoin  ; 


690      CHAS.  GUSHING  ;  JACOB  BAILEY  :  EPISCOPALIANISM. 

Mr.  Sumner,  Mrs.  Cusliing's  brother,  and  others  ;  by  which,  and  by  fre- 
quent correspondence  with  their  friends  in  Boston  and  vicinity,  a  knowl- 
edge and  an  interest  witli  the  inside  world  was  freshly  kept  up  with  those 
who  were  on  this  outer  margin.  Two  letters  from  Mr.  Sumner  to  Sheriff 
Cushing,  who,  to  his  other  appointments,  had  added  the  commission  of 
colonel  of  the  regiment,  will  show  the  style  of  this  correspondence,  and  at 
the  same  time  illustrate  some  facts.  We  have  not  space  to  introduce  them 
here  :  they  may  be  seen  in  the  New  England  Genealogical  Register,  vol.  8, 
pages  lO'J  and  110. 

By  and  by,  dillerences  arose  on  religious  questions,  which  extended  to 
the  masses.  Tlie  leading  men  had  all  been  educated  in  the  Puritan  notions 
of  Massachusetts ;  but  Bailey  had  abandoned  these,  and  become  a  very 
earnest  Episcopalian.  On  taking  possession  of  his  missionary  field,  he  was 
the  only  clergyman  for  many  miles  around,  and  the  people  must  attend  upon 
his  ministrations,  or  lose  all  benefit  from  public  religious  observances.  He 
therefore  drew  around  him  the  majority  of  the  people,  who  yielded  their 
denominational  preferences  to  the  benefit  of  religious  instruction,  although 
difierent  from  what  they  had  been  accustomed  to.  But  an  opposition  grad- 
ually arose  to  the  Church  of  England,  which  led  to  very  bitter  quarrels, 
extending  to  controversies  in  regard  to  land  titles  and  suits  in  the  courts. 
These  involved  the  principal  men  of  the  town,  and  distracted  that  once 
peaceable  society.  Mr.  Bailey  was  very  strenuous  in  carrying  out  his 
theological  and  denominational  views,  and  does  not  appear  to  have  been 
very  conciliatory  in  his  manners  in  that  regard ;  which  brought  upon  him 
and  his  family  severe  trials.  In  a  letter  under  date  of  March,  1773,  he  refers 
to  them  in  the  following  lines : 

''  Far  distant  from  the  pleasing  scenes  of  life, 

From  all  the  joys  which  sacrGtl  friendships  give: 
Amid  the  sons  of  malice  and  of  strife, 

■Where  discord  rages,  I  am  doomed  to  live." 

He  ranked  Judge  Bowman  and  Sheriflf  Gushing  among  his  opponents,  and 
says  that  at  first  they  voluntarily  joined  with  the  Church,  but  afterwards 
became  hostile  to  it,  and  labored  to  get  up  a  dissenting  meeting-house. 

But  this  denominational  (juarrel  was  but  a  trifle,  to  the  violent  and  exas- 
perated one  which  grew  out  of  the  Revolutionary  troubles.  Mr.  Bailey, 
Major  Goodwin,  and  many  of  the  prominent  members  of  his  parisli,  adhered 
firmly  to  the  royal  cause ;  Avhile  Bowman,  the  Cushings,  and  many  others, 
joined  the  whigs.  The  Episcopalians  on  the  Kennebec,  as  well  as  in  other 
parts  of  the  country,  were  loyalists,  while  the  dissenters  generally,  supported 
the  revolution.  Most  violent  mobs  and  bloody  outbreaks  occurred  in  that 
once  peaceful  hamlet :  Mr.  Bailey  and  his  family  were  treated  with  great 
harshness,  which  it  must  be  confessed  Iio  did  nothing  to   avert.     In  the 


CHAELES  GUSHING:   REVOLUTIONARY  TROUBLES.       691 

progress  of  events,  he  stood  un_yielding :  he  continued  his  prayers  for  the 
king  in  1776,  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  though  forbidden ;  ho 
refused  to  take  the  oath  of  allegiance,  and  refused  to  pray  for  the  Revolu- 
tionary Government,  or  to  adopt  any  measures  of  concession;  he  even 
named  a  son,  in  1777,  for  Lord  Percy,  who  fought  at  Lexington.  He  was 
impracticable ;  and,  consequently,  was  a  subject  of  censure,  denunciation, 
and  persecution.  It  became  the  duty  of  Sheriff  Gushing,  under  the  law,  to 
silence  him,  and  to  use  the  arm  of  authority  to  prevent  the  influence  he  was 
using,  through  that  community,  against  the  de  facto  government  of  the 
province.  In  October,  1778,  Cailey  was  presented  to  the  Grand  Jury  for 
preaching  treason  in  a  sermon  to  his  people  ;  but,  he  says,  "  The  jury,  how- 
ever, at  the  instance  of  Langdon,  the  attorney,  refused  to  find  a  bill."  In 
November,  Mr.  Bailey  undertook  to  preach  again,  believing,  as  he  said,  that 
Mr.  Gushing  had  no  authority  to  silence  him.  He  held  a  meeting  the 
Sunday  before  Christmas,  about  which  he  says,  "  This  indignant  magistrate, 
[  High  Sheriff  Gushing  ]  observing  a  number  of  people  passing  by  his  house 
in  the  attendance  upon  Divine  service,  sent  directly  for  one  of  my  wardens 
*  *  and  ordered  him  to  deliver  to  nie  the  following  imperious  message : 
'  Tell  the  parson  that  if  he  presumes  to  discharge  his  functions  any  longer, 
I  will  immediately  commit  him  to  prison.'  "  The  sheriff,  he  says,  further 
threatened  him,  that  if  he  officiated  on  Ghristmas  day,  "  he  would  drag  him 
out  of  the  pulpit."  The  same  scenes  of  disorder  and  violence  occurred  on 
the  Kennebec,  as  were  enacted  in  other  parts  of  the  country,  and  similar  to 
those  which  every  revolution  produces,  and  which  are  daily  repeated  in 
portions  of  our  country  at  the  present  time,  under  the  influence  of  insane 
and  bitter  passion. 

Mr.  Bailey  remained  in  the  country  until  June,  1779,  when,  having 
obtained  permission  of  the  Massachusetts  government,  he  moved  to  Halifax, 
and  forever  left  this  field  of  his  labor  and  trials, —  and  thus  one  source  of 
annoyance  to  the  friends  of  the  Revolution  was  removed.  But  still  an 
opposition  was  kept  up, —  the  snake  was  scotched,  not  killed, —  John  Jones, 
who  had  been  a  surveyor  under  the  royal  government,  still  remained :  he 
was  a  very  active  partisan,  and  controlled  a  considerable  party  on  the  river. 
In  1781,  Jones,  with  a  small  force,  in  the  night,  proceeded  to  the  mansion  of 
Sheriff  Gushing,  who  had  now  become  a  brigadier  general,  broke  it  open, 
and  entering  the  chamber  of  the  sheriff,  took  him  from  his  bed,  compelled 
him  to  hurry  on  his  clothes,  and  hastily  and  secretly  carried  him  to  tho 
British  post  at  Gastine,  where  he  was  retained  for  some  time  as  a  prisoner. 
By  his  vigilance  in  the  discharge  of  his  duties  as  sheriff  and  military  officer, 
he  had  made  himself  especially  obnoxious  to  the  loyalists,  which  led  to  this 
method  of  revenge. 

His  functions  as  sheriff  and  brigadier  general  seem  to  have  ceased  soon 
after  this  time,  when  he  removed  to  Boston ;  and  he  next  appears  as  clerk 


692  CHARLES  GUSHING  :   EDMUND   BRIDGE. 

of  the  conrts  in  Suffolk  County,  in  1783.  He  was  succeeded  in  the  office  of 
sheriff  by  Edmund  Bridge,  in  1782,  and  by  Colonel  McCobb  as  brigadier 
general.  Mr.  Gushing  continued  clerk  of  the  courts  in  Suffolk  to  the  time 
of  his  death,  which  took  place  November  7,  1810,  at  the  age  of  seventj^-six. 
Mr.  Deane,  in  his  History  of  Scituate,  says  of  him,  "He  was  a  gentleman, 
worthy  of  his  distinguished  ancestors."  The  fact  of  his  occupying  respons- 
ible public  stations  from  the  age  of  twenty-six  to  his  death,  continuously, 
both  under  the  royal  and  republican  governments, —  a  period  of  fifty  years, 
—  is  sufficient  proof  of  his  ability,  faithfulness  and  integrity.  His  wife 
died  May  31,  1817,  aged  seventy-four.  They  had  seven  children,— one  son 
and  six  daughters.  The  two  eldest  daughters  died  in  infancy,  the  others 
were  born  and  married  as  follows ;  viz.,  Elizabeth,  born  March  9,1772 
married  Elisha  Doane  of  Scituate — no  issue:  Mary,  born  January  16,  1774, 
married  Eli  P.  Ashmun,  United  States  senator,  first,  and  Stephen  Codman 
for  her  second  husband — no  issue;  she  died  in  1840  :  Sarah,  born  November 
21,  1777,  married  Charles  Paine,  1797,  and  had  several  children;  she  died 
in  1848 :  Lucy,  born  February  3,  1780,  married  Henry  Sheafe,  November 
23,  1805,  and  had  several  children :  Charles,  the  only  son  of  the  sheriff,  was 
born  December  22,  1775,  married  Ann  H.  Sheafe,  daughter  of  Jacob  Sheafe 
of  Portsmouth,  March  12,  1805,  by  whom  he  had  several  children:  he  lived 
in  Portsmouth,  where  he  died  August  6,  1849. 

EDMUND     BRIDGE.      1782  —  1814. 

For  the  principal  part  of  this  memoir,  I  am  indebted  to  my  friend,  John  H. 
Sheppard  of  Boston. 

The  families  of  Sheriff  Bridge  and  Judge  Bowman  of  Dresden  were  de- 
scendants of  early  settlers  in  Massachusetts,  and  were  of  note  and  influence 
in  their  day.  Their  settlement  in  Dresden  had  an  important  influence  upon 
the  town  and  that  portion  of  Maine. 

The  towns  of  Dresden,  Alna,  and  Wiscasset,  including  Swan  Island  on 
the  Kennebec,  formerly  constituted  Pownalboro',  named  after  Gov.  Thomas 
Pownal,  a  noble-hearted  man,  whose  portrait,  having  been  skillfully  copied 
from  a  very  fine  mezzotint  engraving  of  Governor  Pownal,  in  the  possession 
of  Mr.  Drake,  author  of  the  "  History  of  Boston,"  by  Henry  C.  Pratt,  was 
presented  to  the  town  of  Dresden  by  Samuel  J.  Bridge,  Esq.,  late  of  San 
Francisco.  Pownalboro'  was  anciently  called  Frankfort,  before  Lincoln 
Count}',  of  which  it  was  the  shire-town,  was  incorporated,  Avhich  was  Juno 
19  1700.  In  1794,  it  lost  its  name  and  was  divided  into  Dresden,  New  Mil- 
ford,  afterwards  Alna,  and  Wiscasset,  then  called  "  Wiscasset  Point,"  from 
that  i)art  of  it  wiiich  projected  into  the  bay  and  was  first  i)eopled.  Dresden, 
now  chiefly  the  still  and  silent  abode  of  the  descendants  of  German  farmers, 


EDMUND  BRIDGE  :  POWNALBORO'  :  BRIDGE  DESCENT.      693 

in  its  early  days,  when  a  shire-town,  was  a  place  of  resort  and  no  small 
gaiety.  Here  stood  the  court-house,  where  the  trials  of  all  cases  east  of 
Cumberland  County  were  held.  The  old  building  with  its  three- story  front, 
on  a  high  bank  of  the  Kennebec,  embowered  by  woods,  still  towers,  as  a 
private  residence,  above  the  tree  tops.  Not  far  from  it  was  Fort  Pownal,  a 
block-house  like  that  on  the  eastern  shore  of  Augusta,  built  in  1752  by  the 
Plymouth  Company,  to  protect  the  settlers  from  the  Indians  :  it  has  vanished 
utterly.  Here  John  Gardiner,  an  eminent  barrister  at  law,  father  of  that 
celebrated  scholar,  the  late  Rev.  John  S.  J.  Gardiner,  D.  D.,  rector  of  Trinity 
Church,  Boston,  practiced  law,  arrayed  when  in  court  as  an  English  advo- 
cate, in  wig  and  gown.  lie  was  representative  to  the  General  Court  three 
or  four  years.  Here,  in  this  old  court-house,  Judge  Wilde  and  Judge  Bridge 
gained  their  maiden  laurels  ;  and  here  Edmund  Bridge  many  years  presided 
as  sheriff,  and  Jonathan  Bowman  served  as  judge  of  probate  and  clerk  of 
the  court. 

Edmund  Bridge  was  in  the  fifth  generation  a  descendant  from  John 
Bridge  of  Cambridge,  Massachusetts.     Let  us  trace  his  pedigree. 

I.  Deacon  Joun  Bridge  came  from  the  county  of  Essex  in  England, 
1631,  and  in  1G32  settled  in  Cambridge,  then  called  "  Newe  Towne  ;  "  in  May 
2,  of  the  same  year,  it  was  ordered  by  the  General  Court  henceforth  to  be 
called  Cambridge.  Young,  in  his  Chronicles  of  Massachusetts,  page  519, 
quotes :  "  Divers  people  in  Old  England  of  my  dear  friends,  desired  me  to  go 
to  New  England,  says  Rev.  Thomas  Shepard,  there  to  live  together  ;  and  some 
went  before  and  writ  to  me  of  providing  a  place  for  a  company  of  us,  one 
of  which  was  John  Bridge."  He  took  the  oath  as  freeman  March  4,  1G34-5. 
He  was  chosen  a  selectman  in  1G35,  and  for  eleven  years  after,  filling  this 
ofiice  the  last  time  in  1G52.  He  was  "Deputy"  to  the  General  Court  in 
1G37,  1G38,  1G39,  and  1G41 ;  and  several  times  was  put  on  important  com- 
mittees to  set  off  towns,  make  partitions  of  estates,  adjust  boundaries,  &c., 
as  will  appear  in  the  colonial  records  of  Massachusetts. 

Cambridge  at  that  time,  as  now,  was  the  favorite  resort  of  literary  and 
talented  men.  There  dwelt  the  Danforth  family ;  and  also  Ilarlakenden, 
the  wealthiest  man  in  New  England,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Court  of  As- 
sistants, 1G3G-1G38.  That  Mr.  Bridge  should  have  been  chosen  selectman 
twelve  times  and  a  representative  four,  in  such  a  place,  is  a  strong  proof 
of  the  high  character  he  sustained,  and  that  the  tradition  among  his  heirs, 
that  he  took  a  very  active  and  influential  part  in  promoting  education  and 
aiding  Harvard  College  in  its  first  start,  is  very  probable. 

In  1G38,  he  bought  of  John  Barnard  and  Thomas  Judd  a  lot  of  land  in 
Cambridge,  supposed  to  include  the  premises  on  which  General  Washington 
had  his  head-(iuarters  in  the  Revolutionary  army  at  Cambridge,  and  where 
Professor  Longfellow  now  lives.  On  this  spot,  ho  died  in  IGGG.  Two  sons 
came  out  with  him  from  England,  Thomas  and  Matthew,  and  he  had  a 


694  EDMUND   BRIDGE:   BRIDGE   DESCENT. 

daughter  Sarah,  born  February  IG,  1648,  who  died  soon  after.    Thomas 
died  in  1050,  and  the  only  surviving  son 

II.  Mattuew  Bkidqe,  married  Anna  Danforth,  sister  of  Lieut.-Governor 
Danforth,  1043  or  1044.  lie  is  on  the  roll  of  the  "  Ancient  and  Honorable 
Artillery  Company  "  of  Boston,  1043.  He  died  April  28,  1700,  and  his  wife 
December  2,  1704.  They  had  seven  children,  three  daughters  and  four  sons ; 
all  the  sons  died  before  them  except 

III.  Matthew  Bkidgk,  who  was  born  May  5,  1650,  and  married  Abigail 
Kussell.  He  removed  to  "  the  Cambridge  Farms,"  so  called,  now  Lexington. 
He  had  nine  children.     He  died  in  1738  ;  his  oldest  son 

IV.  Mattuew,  was  born  March  1,  1094,  and  married  Abigail  Bowman, 
March  22,  1720.  He  lived  on  a  lot  formerly  within  Lexington,  on  the  boun- 
dary line  of  AValtham,  which,  at  his  request,  by  resolve  of  the  Legislature, 
was  set  oti"  to  Waltham,  making  a  jog  called  the  "  Bridge  Farm,"  in  the  north- 
west line  of  the  town.  He  died  March  25,  1701.  Of  his  four  children,  one 
was  the  Rev.  ^latthew  Bridge,  born  July  18, 1721,  graduated  at  Harvard  Uni- 
versity in  1741,  and  settled  as  a  minister  of  the  first  parish  in  Framingham,  in 
February  19, 1740.  He  was  a  chaplain  in  the  Revolutionary  army,  and  died 
September  2,  1775,  a  truly  good  man. 

IV.  The  youngest  son  of  Matthew  III.,  and  last  of  his  nine  children,  was 
Samuel,  who  was  born  May  2,  1705,  married  Martha  Bowman  as  his  second 
wife,  April  22,  1738,  and  had  four  children,  all  sons,  of  whom  Edmund 
(called  Edward  by  mistake  in  Bond's  Watertown)  was  his  second  son. 

V.  Edmund  Bridge,  the  high  sheriff,  and  the  subject  of  our  present  notice, 
was  born  August  0,  1739.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one,  in  1700,  he  went  into 
Maine,  seeking  his  fortune,  and  settled  in  Dresden.  As  soon  as  he  got  things 
well  prepared,  he  returned  home,  and  in  1704  married  his  cousin,  Phebe 
Bowman,  then  seventeen  years  old, — described  as  a  "young  and  tender 
plant  to  transfer  to  the  cold  soil  of  a  wilderness."  Yet  this  motherly  and 
excellent  woman  had  nine  children,  lived  to  a  good  old  age,  surviving  her 
husband,  and  died  in  1827,  aged  eighty-two. 

Mr.  Bridge  settled  in  that  part  of  Pownalboro'  called  Dresden,  which  lies 
on  the  "  Eastern  River," — a  stream  of  considerable  size,  rising  in  Pittston, 
some  twelve  miles  distant,  and  from  the  bridge  navigable  for  coasters  to  the 
Kennebec,  which  it  enters  after  winding  for  six  miles  to  the  foot  of  Swan 
Island.  The  bridge  which  crosses  the  stream  at  the  head  of  tide-water  is 
within  half  a  mile  of  the  fine  green  interval  on  which,  a  few  rods  from  the 
river,  stands  the  spacious  house  he  built  in  1793.  This  homestead  of  somo 
generations,  which  faces  the  water,  with  its  large  barn,  where  many  a 
stranger's  horse  has  found  a  welcome  bite,  has  a  cheerful  and  cosy  appear- 
ance. The  farm  around  it  is  extensive,  the  spot  romantic  ;  near  which  arises 
a  series  of  well-wooded  hills  from  the  level  plain. 

The  mansion  of  Sheriff  Bridge  was  the  abode  of  hospitality.    He  flrst  set- 


EDMUND   BRIDGE  :   BENJAMIN   VAUGHAN.  695 

tied  on  tho  banks  of  the  Kennebec,  and  was  a  large  landholder  in  Dresden 
and  Augusta.  On  his  farm  by  the  Eastern  River  he  seemed  like  Magnus 
Troil  in  his  castle  at  Zetland,  so  finely  described  by  Walter  Scott  in  the 
"  Pirate."  The  intercourse  among  neighbors  and  the  customs  of  visiting 
were  very  diflerent  from  the  reserved  habits  of  the  present  day.  There  was 
less  cold  ceremony,  and  more  warm  hospitality  ;  for  flocks  of  visitors  would 
come  on  a  three  days'  siege,  like  a  flight  of  birds,  to  Sherifl"  Bridge's  genial 
roof.  His  lady  once  remarked  that  one  morning  she  counted  twenty-fivo 
saddles  on  the  kitchen  floor.  The  poor  Indian  there  found  a  welcome  meal, 
and  was  never  turned  away  from  that  door.  There  often  were  seen  some  of 
the  first  men  in  the  land  :  when  Talleyrand  visited  this  country  and  went  to 
Ilallowell,  he  found  on  his  way  a  cordial  reception  at  the  Sheriff's.  The  age 
of  dollar  distinctions  and  copper  calculations  had  not  then  arrived.  Gov. 
Pownal  often  visited  the  Kennebec,  and  always  made  the  Sheriff's  house  his 
home. 

In  those  genial  and  hospitable  times  after  the  Revolution,  Gen.  William 
Lithgow,  one  of  Washington's  aids,  was  living  in  Georgetown ;  Col.  William 
Howard  at  Augusta;  Gen.  Henry  Dearborn  at  Gardiner;  and  Gen.  Henry 
Knox  at  Thomaston,  like  lairds  of  the  Highlands  in  their  baronial  castles  ; 
nor  should  the  generous  and  convivial  families  of  the  Woods  and  Hodges, 
the  merchant  princes  of  Wiscasset,  be  omitted,  when  we  wake  up  the  pictorial 
reminiscences  of  olden  time.  But  there  was  a  family  in  Ilallowell  which 
should  never  be  forgotten,  filling  up  the  outlines  of  the  past  with  delightful 
remembrances  of  elegant  retirement,  taste,  fortune,  books,  religion,  noiseless 
and  without  guile,  and  the  courtly  manners  of  the  most  polished  gentleman 
of  the  old  school.  I  allude  to  Benjamin  Yaughan,  LL.  D.  He  came  from 
England, — had  been  a  member  of  the  British  Parliament, — he  settled  in 
Ilallowell  in  1790.  He  was  a  ripe  and  learned  scholar,  educated  at  Cam- 
bridge, England,  and  to  him,  Dr.  Priestly  dedicated  his  lectures  on  History. 
He  had  a  library  of  ten  thousand  volumes,  lining  the  sides  of  the  rooms,  and 
distributed  all  over  his  house,  except  in  his  front  parlors.  This  house,  erected 
on  a  conspicuous  hill,  commanded  one  of  the  finest  views  in  Maine,  looking 
up  and  down  on  the  Kennebec  River :  his  large  garden  was  noted  for  choice 
fruit  trees  and  rare  plants.  He  was  always  doing  good  to  the  poor,  always 
studying  some  learned  work  like  another  Prospero  in  his  cell,  and  always 
writing  letters,  for  he  kept  up  an  immense  correspondence  at  homo  and 
abroad.  No  stranger  ever  visited  Ilallowell  without  letters  to  him,  and  none 
went  away  without  loving  him.  His  death  occurred  December  8,  1835,  in 
his  eighty-fifth  year. 

Mr.  Bridge  was  appointed  Sheriff  of  Lincoln  County,  March  2,  1782,  by 
Gov.  Hancock,  and  continued  until  his  resignation  in  February,  1814,  nearly 
thirty-two  years — excepting  some  six  or  eight  months,  when  Orchard  Cook, 
of  Wiscasset,  under  Gov.  Goiry,  held  that  ufllce.     II o  used  to  relate  an  an- 


696  EDMUND   BRIDGE. 

ecdote  of  the  Rovoliition  M'hicli  showed  the  bitter  and  furious  feehns;s  of  those 
days  when  brotlier  rose  up  against  brother,  and  father  against  son,  Samuel 
Goodwin  had  been  the  King's  survej'or :  he  lived  in  Pownalboro',  near  the 
court-house,  and  as  a  matter  of  course,  was  a  loyalist.  His  son  Sam,  aged 
twenty-five,  on  the  other  hand,  was  a  whig,  or  patriot.  Col.  Benedict  Arnold 
•was  on  his  way  in  that  ill-fated  expedition  to  Quebec,  and  stopped  at  this 
place  to  obtain  a  map  of  the  country  from  the  surveyor ;  but  Goodwin  stren- 
uously refused  to  deliver  it.  Sam  interfered  ;  words  came  to  blows ;  the 
son  got  the  father  down  on  the  floor  ;  the  women  screamed,  and  Mr.  Bridge, 
a]|near  neighbor,  hearing  the  noise,  rushed  into  the  house,  pulled  off  Sam 
who  was  pounding  his  father,  and  inquired  into  the  cause  of  the  fracas.  The 
son  said,  "  Col.  Arnold  wants  the  map,  and  the  d —  old  tory  "  pointing  to 
liis  father,  "  won't  give  it  up."  Bat  Mr.  Bridge  soon  persuaded  tlie  old  man, 
as  it  was  a  case  of  compulsion,  to  surrender  it.  Mr.  B.  took  such  interest  in 
Arnold's  expedition  that  he  advanced  him  a  hundred  dollars  in  silver,  taking 
Continental  money  in  exchange,  some  of  which  is  still  in  the  family. 

After  a  long  life,  much  respected  for  his  integrity,  and  beloved  by  all  wlio 
knew  him,  Sheriff  Bridge  died  at  Dresden  in  September,  1825,  aged  eighty-six. 
The  Columbian  Centinel  of  September  17,  1825,  contains  this  fine  obituary 
notice  of  his  decease  :  "Another  revolutionary  patriot  is  thus  added  to  the 
long  list  of  those  who  have  passed  off  the  stage  of  human  action  and  useful- 
ness. *  *  *  He  was  a  firm  and  zealous  patriot ;  and  many  in- 
stances of  his  decision  are  related,  while  he  was  Chairman  of  the  Committee 
of  Safety  for  that  town  (Dresden);  particularly  in  preventing  the  British 
from  obtaining  a  supply  of  wood  and  lumber  in  1775,  when  they  were  be- 
sieged in  Boston.  In  1781,  he  was  appointed  Sheriff  of  Lincoln  County ;  and 
retained  the  office  until  1815,  when  he  resigned  on  account  of  his  advanced 
age.  The  various  and  important  duties  of  this  office  he  discharged  with 
fidelity,  and  to  the  universal  acceptance  of  the  people.  No  man  was  more 
esteemed  and  beloved  by  all  classes  of  citizens.  As  a  parent,  he  was  most 
exemplary-  His  children  were  well  educated ;  his  house  was  the  seat  of 
hospitality  and  cheerfulness  ;  and  he  was  an  efficient  advocate  for  the  Chris- 
tian ministry  and  for  public  schools.  He  lived  for  the  benefit  of  his  fellow- 
men,  maintained  an  unspotted  reputation,  and  his  death  is  deeply  lamented 
by  a  large  circle  of  relatives  and  friends." 

Mr.  Bridge  was  tall  in  stature,  and  of  an  expressive,  open,  and  very  benev- 
olent countenance.  His  wife  died  in  1827,  aged  eighty-two.  They  had  nine 
children,  all  born  in  Pownalboro' :  James,  Martha,  Edmund,  Phebe,  Nathan, 
Samuel,  William,  Sarah,  and  Joseph  Bowman. 

Of  his  sons,  James  and  Nathan,  we  have  spoken  in  their  place  as  lawyers, 
on  pages  lot  and  270,  to  which  we  refer.  James,  the  eldest  son  of  the 
sheriff,  was  born  September  21,  17C5  ;  married  Hannah  Nortli,  July  4,  17'J7. 
She  was  born  June  29,  1774,  and  died  April  9,  1822.    Wo  take  this  opportu- 


EDMUND   BRIDGE  AND    FAMILY.  697 

nity  to  correct  some  errors  in  the  table  of  James's  children,  given  on  page 
158.  His  son  Edmund  was  born  December  6,  1799,  and  died  February  17, 
1854.  His  daughter  Margaret  was  born  February  12,  1802.  James  was 
born  July  17,  1804.  Horatio  was  born  April  8,  1806:  he  entered  the  navy 
in  1838  as  paymaster,  and  is  author  of  "  The  Journal  of  an  African  Cruiser." 
Mary,  bora  May  2,  1808,  married  Rufus  Chandler  Vose  of  Augusta,  and 
died  June  13,  1842.  Hannah  was  born  September  23,  1810,  married  Daniel 
Williams  of  Augusta,  —  his  second  wife.  By  his  first  wife.  Miss  Sawtelle, 
Mr.  Williams  had  Seth  Williams,  now  assistant  adjutant  general  in  the 
United  States  army. 

We  have  thought  it  would  be  interesting  to  preserve  in  this  place  some 
further  genealogical  facts  relating  to  Sherilf  Bridge's  family. 

II.  Martha  Bridge,  born  in  1768,  was  married  to  Colonel  Arthur 
Lithgow,  who  was  sheriff  of  Kennebec  County  from  its  organization  Febru- 
ary 20,  1799,  to  1809,  when  General  Chandler  superseded  him.  He  was 
sometime  an  officer  in  the  custom-house,  Boston.  He  died  in  Roxbury, 
Massachusetts,  August  14,  1835,  aged  seventy-five  years.  He  was  a  popular 
sheriff,  and  a  generous  and  hospitable  man,  of  large  size  and  gallant 
appearance.  Mrs.  Lithgow  died  in  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  April  6, 
1852 ;  this  noble-hearted,  cheerful,  and  excellent  woman  having  reached 
eighty-four  years.     Their  children  were, 

1.  Arthur  Lithgow,  born  December  25,  1789.  He  followed  the  sea  for 
some  years  as  a  ship-master,  was  skillful  and  expert,  and  now  resides  at 
Hayti  with  his  family. 

2.  William  Lithgow,  born  July  1,  1792.  He  used  to  sail  from  Boston, 
an  able  ship-master,  and  died  November  19,  1826,  leaving  a  family  in  Boston. 
His  wife  was  Miss  Langdon  of  New  York. 

3.  Jane  Caroline  Lithgow,  born  July  10,  1795.  She  married  Richard. 
Devens,  of  Charlestown,  Massachusetts,  now  deceased.  Mrs.  Devens  resides 
in  Charlestown. 

4.  Mary  Lithgow,  born  December  8,  1797,  married  Charles  Devens  of 
Boston,  merchant.  She  died  October  3,  1849,  leaving  two  sons,  who  each 
graduated  at  Harvard  University ;  Charles  in  1838,  and  Arthur  Lithgow  in 
1840.  Charles,  now  General  Devens,  has  distinguished  himself  in  the 
present  war  with  the  rebels  ;  and  Arthur  is  a  lawyer  at  Walpole,  New 
Hampshire.     The  above  were  born  in  Winslow,  Maine. 

5.  Frances  Lithgow,  born  in  Augusta,  December  1,  1800,  married  John 
L.  Payson,  late  American  consul  at  Messina. 

6.  Frederic  A.  Lithgow,  born  at  Augusta,  1807,  died  at  Havana,  February 
21,  1821,  aged  fourteen. 

III.  Edmund  Bridoe,  born  in  Pownalboro',  March  20,  1773,  was  an 
eminent  merchant  in  Wilmington,  North  Carolina,  where  he  was  engaged  in 
extensive  business,  and  died  July  17, 1823,  after  a  residence  there  of  fifteen 

45 


698  EDMUND   bridge's   FAMILY. 

years :  he  was  niucli  esteemed  for  his  public  spirit  and  benevolence.  His 
brother  Natlian  was  with  him  at  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  never  mar- 
ried. His  funeral  was  attended  by  a  largo  procession  of  all  classes,  and  the 
colors  on  the  shipping  were  displayed  at  half  mast. 

IV.  PuEBE  Bridge  was  born  March  6,  1771,  and  died  in  Dresden, 
February  27,  1842.    She  was  married  to  William  Bowman. 

V.  Natuan  Bkidge  was  born  September  23,  1775  ;  for  further  particulars 
of  whom  I  refer  to  page  270. 

VI.  Samuel  Bridge  was  born  November  14,  1778,  and  died  at  Dresden, 
December  12,  1821.  He  was  brought  up  from  a  lad  in  the  auction  store  of 
the  late  Thomas  K.Jones,  a  noted  auctioneer  of  Boston;  whose  niece, 
Margaret  Paine,  daughter  of  Nathaniel  Paine,  he  married.  He  was  one  of 
the  firm  of  Robert  G.  Shaw,  Barker,  and  Bridge  ;  and  afterwards,  in  1809, 
of  Barker  and  Bridge.  He  removed  to  Dresden  with  his  family,  about  1811, 
•where  he  lived  to  the  time  of  his  death.  He  was  frequently  chosen  selectman, 
overseer  of  the  poor,  &c.,  for  Dresden.  He  was  respected  for  his  talents,  and 
beloved  for  his  virtues.  His  widow  died  in  Boston,  June  15,  183G.  They 
left  three  sons  and  two  daughters  ;  viz., 

1.  Mary  Helen,  born  in  Boston,  July  17, 1804,  died  August  6,  184G,  of 
consumption,  after  a  vain  search  for  health  on  the  shore  and  among  the  isles 
of  the  Pacific. 

2.  Samuel  J.,  born  June  1,  1809,  a  merchant  early  and  extensively  en- 
gaged in  business.  In  1841,  he  was  appointed  one  of  the  appraisers  of  the 
United  States  for  Boston,  and  after  more  than  twelve  years'  service,  in  1853, 
promoted  to  be  appraiser  general  for  the  Pacific  coast,  which  he  held  until 
1862,  when  the  office  was  abolished.  Mr.  Bridge  is  a  liberal  patron  of  the 
arts,  having  presented  to  Dresden  and  to  the  State  of  Maine,  beautiful 
copies  of  an  original  picture  of  Governor  Thomas  Pownal.  To  him,  also,  I 
am  indebted  for  the  fine  portrait  of  his  uncle,  James  Bridge,  which  I  have 
added  to  this  work. 

3.  Thomas  K.  Jones  Bridge,  the  third  child  of  Samuel  Bridge,  was  born 
in  Boston,  November  IG,  1811 ;  was  lost  at  sea  in  1842,  on  a  voyage  to  the 
Pacific. 

4.  Nathan  W.  Bridge,  born  in  Dresden,  June  28,  1814,  a  ship  broker  in 
Boston. 

5.  Jane  Paine  Bridge,  born  in  Dresden,  September  28,  1817,  and  now 
living  in  Boston. 

VII.  William  Bridge,  born  May  4,  1781.  He  commenced  business  in 
Augusta,  was  unfortunate  in  trade,  went  to  New  Orleans,  where  he  died  in 
1817.     He  was  always  an  invalid  and  sulFerer  from  ill  health. 

VIII.  Sarah  Bridge,  born ,  married  Hartwell  Williams,  Esq., 

of  Augusta.     She  died  in  1835,  leaving  one  son  and  two  daughters  ;  the  son, 


EDMUND   bridge's   FAMILY.  699 

J.  Hartwell  Williams,  formerly  United  States  consul,  and  now  a  merchant  in 
Sidney,  Nova  Scotia ;  one  daughter,  Phebe,  married  Elisha  Hathaway  of 
Boston ;  the  other,  Isabella,  married  Rev.  Frederic  Freeman  of  Sandwich, 
Massachusetts,  author  of  the  History  of  Cape  Cod. 

IX.  Joseph  Bowmax  Bridge  was  born  September  19,  1700.  He  was 
never  married,  and  for  thirteen  years  has  held  an  office  in  the  United  States 
Public  Appraisers'  Office,  Boston.  For  several  years,  he  was  one  of  the 
selectmen  of  Dresden,  and  its  Representative  in  the  Legislature. 

Within  three  or  four  years  a  number  of  citizens  of  Dresden  selected  a  pic- 
turesque site  for  a  burial  ground,  and  called  it  '.'  The  Pine  Grove  Cemetery." 
It  is  beautifully  laid  out  by  Jonathan  Mann,  the  Superintendent  of  Mount 
Auburn,  and  is  to  be  adorned  with  trees,  shrubbery,  and  flowers,  with  a  fine 
avenue  leading  up  to  it.  It  lies  on  a  gentle  slope  toward  the  south,  in  view 
of  the  river  which  glides  by,  and  in  the  midst  of  a  landscape  environed  by 
mountains.  It  does  honor  to  the  liberality  and  taste  of  Mr.  Samuel  J.  Bridge, 
under  whose  eye  it  was  prepared.  The  last  home  of  our  departed  friends, 
should  be,  if  possible,  some  scenic  spot  with  the  sky  above  and  woodlands 
and  water  in  the  surroundings.  It  is  so  in  this  "  Flower  Garden  of  the 
Dead,"  as  Mr.  Bridge  happily  calls  it.  Here  repose  the  honored  patriarch 
of  Dresden,  his  wife,  children,  and  grand-children,  with  neighbors  they 
loved  and  who  loved  them.  Dust  to  dust,  while  the  spirit  has  returned  to 
God  who  gave  it. 


HENRY    WELD    FULLER. 

1804  —  1  841  . 


A.  notice  of  Judge  Fuller  having  been  omitted  in  its  appropriate  place,  I 
will  not  for  that  reason  deny  myself  the  pleasure,  in  these  closing  pages,  of 
giving  a  brief  sketch  of  a  gentleman,  who,  for  many  years,  occupied  a 
prominent  position  at  the  Kennebec  Bar,  and  for  thirteen  years  honorably- 
discharged  the  duties  of  judge  of  probate  for  that  county. 

About  the  middle  of  the  last  century,  in  Attleborough,  Massachusetts, 
there  was  a  man  of  extraordinary  virtues,  whose  piety  and  eloquence  were 
mentioned  with  admiration  by  Dr.Dwight,  in  his  "  Travels  in  New  England," 
and  by  the  celebrated  theologian.  Dr.  Emmons.  I  refer  to  the  Rev.  Hahijah 
Weld,  who,  after  a  faithful  pastorate  of  fifty-five  years,  died  May  14,  1782. 
He  was  born  September  2,  1702,  and  from  the  untimely  loss  of  his  father, 
when  only  six  months  old,  his  mother  gave  him  the  Hebrew  name  of 
Habijah,  meaning,  my  father  is  God.  He  was  great-grandson  of  Rev. 
Thomas  Weld,  a  graduate  of  Cambridge  University,  England,  who  came  to 
this  country  in  1632,  and  was  the  first  minister  settled  in  Roxbury.  Habijah 
graduated  at  Harvard  College  in  1723,  was  a  Boanerges  in  the  pulpit,  and 
his  labors  were  crowned  with  great  blessings  from  on  high,  to  such  a  degree, 
that  at  one  time  there  were  fifty-seven  admissions,  and  the  body  of  the 
house  was  so  crowded  at  the  eucharist,  that  part  of  the  communicants  were 
obliged  to  sit  in  the  gallery. 

He  married  Mary  Fox,  daughter  of  Rev.  John  Fox  of  Woburn.  They 
had  fifteen  children ;  one  of  whom,  Hannah,  married  Rev.  Caleb  Fuller, 
who  graduated  at  Yale  College  in  1758,  was  obliged  to  give  up  preaching 
from  weakness  of  the  lungs,  and  died  at  a  good  old  age  in  Hanover,  New 
Hampshire.  Caleb  and  Hannah  Fuller  were  the  parents  of  Judge  Fuller, 
the  subject  of  the  present  notice,  who  was  first  named  Habijah,  but  his 


J^^ 


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t^"* 


•J^/7T:£Mrr- 


HENRY  W,  FULLER.  701 

name  was  afterwards  changed  to  Henry  by  the  Legislature.  He  was  bora 
at  Hanover,  January  1,  178i,  and  graduated  at  Dartmouth  College  in  1801, 
the  classmate  and  intimate  friend  of  Daniel  Webster  —  a  fi'iendship  which 
lasted  for  life.  He  studied  law  with  Benjamin  Whitwell  of  Augusta,  with 
whom,  on  his  admission  to  practice,  he  became  a  partner.  He  was  married 
January  7,  180G,  by  Rev.  Daniel  Stone,  to  Miss  Esther  Gould,  who  now 
survives  him  :  .she  was  a  daughter  of  Capt.  Benjamin  Gould  of  Newburyport, 
and  sister  of  Miss  Hannah  F.  Gould,  eminent  as  a  poetess  and  fine  writer, 
and  is  her  peer  in  intellectual  strength. 

He  was  afterwards  a  partner,  for  a  time,  with  Bridge  and  Williams ;  was 
appointed  county  attorney  in  1822,  and  held  the  office  until  1828,  in  which 
5'ear  he  was  appointed  judge  of  probate  for  Kennebec.  This  office  he 
held  to  the  period  of  his  death.  He  was  major,  and  afterwards  colonel  in 
the  militia,  under  Major  General  Henry  Sewall,  and  was  in  service  when  the 
troops  were  called  out  to  defend  the  coast,  and  encamped  at  Wiscasset  in 
the  war  with  England,  in  1814.  He  was  representative  from  Augusta  to  the 
General  Court,  Massachusetts,  in  1817,  and  in  1828,  in  the  Legislature  of 
Maine.  He  was  also  an  active  and  influential  member  of  the  Masonic 
Fraternit}-. 

His  practice  was  extensive  and  profitable,  and  he  had  one  of  the  largest 
dockets  in  the  county.  He  was  agent  of  the  proprietors  of  the  Hancock, 
Pitts,  and  Thwing  Rights,  and  was  owner  with  the  late  Reuel  Williams  of  the 
township  of  Bradford,  Maine,  which  he  settled.  In  trials  before  the  jury, 
he  was  brief  and  cogent,  spoke  with  fervor,  and  always  to  the  point,  and 
was  remarkably  successful  in  his  verdicts.  He  was  fond  of  horticulture  and 
farming,  and  had  a  sound  taste  in  architecture.  By  his  influence  and  exam- 
ple, Augusta,  the  capital  of  Maine,  was  enlarged  and  ornamented,  wide 
streets  made,  and  their  sidewalks  bordered  with  trees.  He  was  a  public 
benefactor  in  beautifying  one  of  the  handsomest  localities  in  the  State  of 
Maine.  He  died  suddenly,  struck  down  by  the  heart  disease  in  Boston, 
January  29,  1811,  much  beloved  for  his  integrity,  hospitality,  warmth  of 
heart,  and  kindliness  of  manner :  he  was  a  man  of  great  public  spirit,  and 
his  death  was  a  heavy  loss  to  society. 

He  had  .seven  children:  1.  Frederic  Augustus,  born  October  5,  1800,  died 
January  29,  1819;  2.  Louisa  Sophia,  born  March  12,  1808,  married,  Sep- 
tember 12,  1832,  Samuel  E.  Smith  of  Wiscasset,  governor  of  Maine,  who 
died  March  5,  18G0,  leaving  four  sons,  one  of  whom,  the  late  Major  Edwin 
M,  Smith,  was  killed  at  the  battle  of  Fair  Oaks,  after  greatly  distinguishing 
himself  at  Williamsburgh.  3.  Henry  Weld  Fuller,  born  January  10,  1810, 
graduated  at  Bowdoin  College  1828,  counsellor  at  law,  married  ilary  S. 
Goddard,  daughter  of  the  late  Nathaniel  Goddard,  an  eminent  merchant  of 


702  HENRY   W.   PULLER. 

Boston,  and  is  now  clerk  of  the  Circuit  Court  of  United  States,  Massachu- 
setts District.  4.  Martha  Elizabeth,  born  June  12,  ISVl,  married  Joseph 
G.  Moody,  merchant,  September  21,  1834.  5.  Caroline  AVeld,  born  January 
3,  1815,  married  Isaac  Farrar,  of  Bangor,  Maine,  June  8, 1835.  G.  Benjamin 
Apthorp  Gould,  born  May  23,  1818,  married  Ilarriotta  Sawtelle,  daughter  of 
Daniel  Williams  of  Augusta,  April  27,  1843,  and  is  a  counsellor  at  law  in 
Augusta.  7.  Lucretia  Goddard,  born  August  9,  1824,  married  Joseph  K. 
Clark,  merchant  of  Wiscasset,  December  27,  1849. 


INDEX 


PAGE. 

Agamenticus,  ....  9 
Adventurers  First,      ...  !) 

Adams  John,  .  84,  88,  123,  296 

Adams  John,  Diary,   .        .        .        185 

AIna, 237 

Adams  John  Quinc}',  .        .        629 

Almanacs, 649 

Ames  Benjamin,  .  .  .45, 498 
Alden  Teter  0.,  .  .  .  129,  229 
Alden  John,  ....  229 
Allen  Frederic,        .     .272,  478,  575,  663 

Alfred, 276 

Atlierton  Charles  H.,  .  .  .  382 
Allen  James,       ....  478 

Allen  graduates,  ....  480 
Allen  William,  .  481,  575,  662 

Allen  Macon  B.,  .  .  .  .  553 
Anderson  John,  .        .        .        640 

Appendix, 647 

Allen  descent,  ....  663 
Amendments  U.  S.  Constitution,  .  672 
Admission  to  the  bar,  .        .        185 

Axminster,  England,  .  .  .  248 
Anti-Slavery  in  Maine,  .  .  553 
Actions,  Entries  in  Cumberland  Co.,  653 
Aldworth,  ....  29 

Andros  Sir  Edmund,       .        .   32,  33,  53 

Arrowsic, 34 

At.  &  St.  L.  R.  R.,  .        .    602-006 

Attornies, 57 

Admissions,  ....  58 

Attorney  Generals,  ...       75 

Attornies  under  the  charter,       .  76 

Attornies'  Fees,      .  .        .      79 


PACE. 

Attornies  in  Maine,     ...  79 

Attornies  from  other  colonies,  .  87 
Attornies  in  York,  1792,  .  .  165 
Attornies  in  Cumberland,  .  .  166 
Abbot  William,  .  190,  372,  425,  431 
Androscoggin  and  Kennebec  R.  R.,  470 
Abbot  Benjamin,         .        .        .        473 

Abbot  John, 578 

Abbot  John  S.,  ...        666 

Attorneys,  District  Court  of  U.  S.,  677 
Auchmuty  Robert,      ...  78 

Augusta,  .        .  243, 458, 617 

Argus  Eastern,     .  281,  441,  550,  641 

Ashburton  Treaty,      .        .        .        456 


Black  Point,    . 
Brattle  Thomas, 
Bar  Rules, 

Bradbury  Theophilus, 
Bar  Meetings, 
Barristers, 
Barristers  in  Maine, 
Bailey  Jeremiah, 
Bar  Customs, 
Bar  of  Cumberland  Co., 
Bangor,   . 
Bartlett  Joseph, 
Brudish  Ebenezer, 
Bankrupt  Law, 
Braman  Rev.  Isaac, 
Bradley  Samuel  A., 
Bradley  descent, 
Black,  Colonel  John, 
Bray  Oliver,    . 


.       18 

34 

57,  83,  185,  652 

.  93,  123 

.     102 

122 

.     123 

128,  157,  219 

.     164 

166 

.     209 

281,  438 

.     329 

354 

.    382 

409 

.     409 

427 

.    491 


704 


INDEX 


Bath, 501 

Blake  George,  ....  511 
Bartlett  John  H.,  Dorcas,  .        G51 

Bank  Maine,  first  in  State,  .  .  654 
Bailey  Kev.  Jacob,  657,  658,  689-691 
Bradford  Alden,  .  .  .  .661 
Berry  Ambrose,  .        ,        .  16 

Brewer  Colonel  John,     .        .        .    212 


Betterment  Act, 

Belfast,    . 

Belcher  Hiram,    . 

Belcher  Supply, 

Bri<lge  James, 

Bridge  Edmund, 

Bliss  George, 

Bridge  James's  fkmily, 

Biddeford,    . 

Bigelow  Timothy,  . 

Bridge  Nathan,    . 

Bridge  Edmund,  Jr., 

Bigelow  William, 

Bigelow  Abijah, 

Bickerstaff 's  Almanac, 

Bridge  Samuel, 

Bridge  Samuel  and  family. 

Bridge  Samuel!.,    . 

Bird  Thomas,  pirate,  . 

Bridge  descent, 

Bridge  Deacon  John  and  family. 

Bridge  Matthew,    . 

Bouithon, 

Brown  John,   .... 

Boies  Antipas,     .        .        .        . 

Bowman  Jonathan,  Jr., 

Browne  Arthur, 

Bourne  Shearjashub,  . 

Books  of  Law, 

Bowman  Jonathan, 

Brown  Sarah, 

Brown  University, 

Bowman  Thomas,  , 

Brown  Benjamin, 

Bond  Thomas, 

Bond  William,    . 

Boutelle  Timothy, 

Boynton  Abel,     . 


238 

.    383,  388 

572 

.    572 

126,  154,  448,  696 

.     154,  692 

157 

.     158,  696 

165 

.      182,  284 

270,  481 

.     272,  697 

382 

.     465 

649 

656,  692,  694 

698 

.     698 

674 

.     603 

692 

.     694 

.     12,  14 

.       31 

34 

42,  269,  661 

.      45 

107,  112,  164 

.     141 

155,  269,  656,  689 

.    229 

230,  291 

.      269,  661 

459 

.     461 

462 

.    464 

507 


Bowdoin  College,    . 

Boston  Yankee,  . 

Bouvier's  Dictionary, 

Bowman  Nathaniel,    . 

Bowman  descent,    . 

l$owman  Jon.,  offices  in  his 

Burdet  George, 

Burrows'  Reports, 

Bullivant, 

Business  and  population, 

Bruce  Phineas, 

Bruce  George, 

Bucksport, 

Brunswick  Conv.,  239,  254, 

Burgoj-ne  prisoners, 
Bryant  Lemuel,   . 


Charter  surrendered, 
Cammock  Thomas, 
Charter  of  1639, 
Champernoon, 
Craddock  Matthew, 
Charter  of  1691,     . 
Campbell  James, 
Chandler  Pcleg, 
Clapp  Ebenczer, 
Chase  Salmon, 
Chase  Dudley,     . 
Chase  Philander,     . 
Chase  Salmon  P., 
Chase  Aquila, 
Castine, 

Castine  Journal, 
Campbell  Daniel, 
Chadwick  Paul, 
Chamberlain  Henry  V., 
Clark  Rev.  Jonas, 
Classology,  Bigelow's, 
Channing  Francis  D.,    , 
Camden, 

Canaan,  .        .        .        , 
Capitol  of  Maine, 
Classical  Literature, 
Cleeves  George, 
Clerks  of  Court, 


.     578, 589 

639 

.     642 

657 

.     657 

family,    659 

.       45 

66 

.      76 

125 

.      126,  151 

151 

.    207 

286,  306,  416, 

[608 

.    686 

490 


12 

12,18 

14 

14,  15,  16 

19 

.      36 

45 

50,  292 

50 

130,  137 

137 

137 

138 

137 

188 

214 

219 

.     238 

328,  664 

372,  402 

382 

.    382 

393 

.     433 

451,  617 

.     643 

13,  20,  25,  52 

42,  60,  216,  518 


INDEX 


705 


Checkley  Anthony, 
Cleaveland  Parker, 
Clerks  of  the  Courts, 
Clerks  of  the  U.  S.  Courts,    . 
Chipman  John, 
Circuit  Traveling, 
Circuit  Court  ol  C.  P.,  . 
Cincinnati  Society, 

Chilmark 

Cirencester,  England, 
Combinations  of  Government, 


PAOE. 

76 

400,  489,  579 

647,  648 

.     677 


91 

.  92,  278 

.     512 

587 

478,  662 

667 

9,  12 

Court,  General,  .  .  13, 45, 322 
Courts,        ...  12,  25, 20, 38 

Coale  James, 13 

Cole  William,      ....  19 

Cooke  Pay  ton,  .  .  .  .19 
Commissioners  of  Charles  II.,    .  24 

County  Court,  ....  20 
Court  S.  J.,  .  40,  105,  277,  310,  683 
Court  C.  P.,  43,  00, 165, 279,  309,  334,  683 
Crosby  William,  .  45,  380,  422,  429 
Corporation  First,        ...  46 

Court  of  Sessions,  .        .      47,  334 

Coke's  Reports,  ...  04 

Congress,  Rep.  from  Me.,    107,  129,  152, 

[308,  354 
Court,  Superior,  ....  125 
Congress,  Senators,  .  129,  457,  630 
Cony  Daniel,  .        .        .      150, 460 

Codification  of  the  Statutes,       .        169 

Cobb  David, 177 

Cobb  Eunice,       ....        177 

Crosby  Lois, 197 

Congress,  234,  304,  307,  353,  355, 

[457,  629 
Conventions  of  Maine,  239,  254,  286, 306, 

[416,  568 
Constitution  of  Maine,  .  .  .  254 
Compensation  of  Judges,  .  .  334 
Compensation  of  Mem.  of  Congr's,  353 
College  Customs,        .        .  397,  637 

Concord,  N.  11.,  .  .  .  .410 
Cogswell  Charles  N.,  .  .  .  560 
Constitutional  Convention  of  Mass.,  620 

Collier  Sarah 667 

Congress,  1789,        .        .        .        .072 


PAGE. 

Courts  of  U.  S.  in  Me.,  officers,  670 

Church  of  England,  .  14,  689,  090 
Gushing  Wm.,  39,  40,  80,  123,  657,  689 
Gushing  John,     ...  40,  689 

Gushing  Charles,  42,  80,  215,  657,  689 
Cumberland  County,  .  .  92,  297 
Gushing  Roland,  .         .     98,  99,  689 

Customs  of  the  Bar,  101, 164,  332,  363,684 
Gushing  Caleb,  ....  177 
Gushing  Deborah,  .  .  .  .213 
Gushing  Joseph,  .        .        .        213 

Gutts  Richard,  .  .  .  .233 
Gumb.  Co.  lawyers,  205,297, 332,  363,  547 
Cutler  Nathan,  .  .  .  435, 574 
Cutler  Elisha  P.,  ...        470 

Davis  Theophilus,  .    •    .        .13 

Danforth  Thomas,  .  .  .  20,  38 
DanaJudah,  .  .  .  45,256,341 
Davis  Daniel,     .  preface.    111,  106 

Dana  Judah,  his  students,  .  .  260 
Dana  John  W.,  ....  201 
Dane  Nathan,  .  .  .  277, 400 
Daggett  Samuel,  .        .        .        330 

Dane  Joseph,  ....    400 

Daveis  Charles  S.,  417,  451,  530,  577 
Davis  Samuel,  ....  501 
Davis  Gapt.  Ebenezer,  .  .  577 
Dartmouth  College,  .  .  593,  021 
Davis  Judge  J.,  .  .  .  .  C33 
Daveis  Edward  H.,  ...  71 
Deed  to  John  Brown,  .        .  31 

Deed,  acknowledgment  of,  .  .  31 
Dennis  Lawrence,       ...  32 

Declaration  of  rights  under  charter,  36 
Dearborn  Henry,         ,  107,  673,  675 

DeCrencj'  Louis  A.,  .  .  .  C13 
Devens  Charles,  ....  097 
Dress  of  graduates,  1798,  .  .  256 
Devereux  Humphrey,  .  .  361 
Deane  John  G.,  .  .  .  .  426 
Delano  Judah,  ....  478 
Deblois  Thomas  A.,        .        .        .    540 

Dresden, 692 

District  Court  of  U.  S.,  85,  87,  673,  676 
District  Court  for  Mass.,       .        87,  632 


'OG 


INDEX 


Dongan,  Governor, 

Pougliiss's  Summary, 

Dole  Daniel, 

Drunkenness, 

Dudley  Joseph,   . 

Dudley  Paul, 

Dunton, 

Dumont  John  P.,    . 

Duration  of  office, 

Dj'  John, 

Dyer's  Reports,   . 


p&as. 

32 
76 

13,  219 

.    39,  53 

57,.  176 

76 

.     204 

648,  652,  695 

.       22 

64 


281,  441,  550, 
453-455,  462, 


129,  257,  262, 
169, 

220,  239, 


Examiners  of  candidates, 

Eastport, 

Eastman  Asa, 

Eastern  Argus,    . 

Evans  George, 

Emery  Xoah, 

Emery  Caleb, 

Emery  John, 

Emery  Nicholas,     . 

Everett  Ebenezer, 

Emery  Rev.  Stephen, 

Electors  of  President, 

Emery  descent, 

Emery  ^largaret, 

Exeter  Academy,    . 

Equitj-  process,    . 

Equity,  first  bill  in, 

Elbridge,      .... 

Entries  during  the  Revolution 

English  Lawyers, 

English  Practice,    . 

Equity  Practice  in  Maine, 

Entries  of  Actions, 

Episcopal  Church,  Portland, 

Emmons  Williams,      .         177,  203, 

Ellsworth, 

Education,  extent  and  cost,  1790, 
Eustis  Abraham,    .... 


351, 


58 

325 

411 

641 

629 

81 

82 

82 

601 

231 

210 

467 

262 

263 

404 

20 

20 

29 

104 

331 

333 

582 

653 

679 

244 

426 

291 

490 


Farnham  Daniel, 
Farmington,    . 
Fairfield,  Governor, 
Flagg  Edmund, 
Flagg  family. 


91 

329,  572 

455 

.     562 

562 


Flagg  Edmund,  Jr., 

Franklin  County  lawyers, 

Frankfort, 

Freeman  Enoch, 

Freeman  Samuel,   . 

Freeman  William, 

Fletcher  Sarah, 

Fessenden  Samuel, 

Federal  Party, 

Freeman's  Friend, 

Fessenden  Wm.  P., 

Fessenden  Nicholas,  descendants, 

Fessenden  Rev.  Wm.,    . 

Freeman  descent, 

Field  Bohan  P.,       .        .        . 

Fisher  Rev.  Jonathan, 

Fitch  Luther, 

Fitch  descent,    .... 

Frisbie,  Professor,  • 

Forms  of  Proceeding, 

Fox  Edward, 

Foxwell  Richard,   . 

Frost  George, 

Foster  Jedediah, 

Frothingham  John, 

Forsaith  Sarah  A., 

Folsom  George,  History  of  Saco, 

Fort  Weston,        .... 

Foote  Erastus, 

Fuller  Rev.  Caleb,      . 

Fuller  Henry  W., 

Fryeburg  Academy,   . 

Fryeburg,       .... 


PAQB- 

.     565 

573 

.      689,  692 

83,  651 

83,  141,  298,  651 

149,  655 

.     161 

322,  541 

.     365 

443 

.      453,  555 

541 

.     542 

651 

.     316 

373 

.     592 

592 

.     638 

13,  16,  45 

,    preface  4 

.      13 

19 

.      40 

43,  103,  675 

.       613 


233 
270 
392 
700 
700 
411 
416 


Garde  Roger,       ....  17 

Gardiner  .John,  .  .  117,  480,  693 
Gardiner  John  S.  J.,  .  .  119,  693 
Gardiner  William  H.,  .  .  .  120 
Gates  Isaac,         .        .        .        .        231 

Gardiner, 271 

Gardiner  Joseph,  .  .  .  479 
Gardiner  Dr.  Sylvester,  .        .     479 

Grand  Lodge  of  Maine,  .  .  670 
Greene  Benjamin,  45,  369,  461,  569 

Greenleaf  Simon,  .  72,  268,  522,  544 
Greenwood  Andrew,       .        .        .    818 


INDEX 


707 


Gerry  Governor  Elbridge, 
Gerrymander, 
Greenleaf  Rev.  Jonathan, 
Greenleaf  descent, 
Greenleaf  3  Reports, 
Greenleaf  Simon's  Works, 
Gridley  Jeremiah, 
Gilman  Allen,    . 
Gilman  John  Ward, 
Oilman  Charles, 
Glidden  Samuel  P., 
Gill  Moses, 
Gilbert  Benjamin  J., 
Gilman,  Governor, 
Gilman  Rev.  Tristram,  . 
Griffin, 

Gorges  William, 
Gorges  Sir  F.,      . 
Gorges  F.,       . 
Governor  General, 
Godfrey  Edward,    . 
Gorges  Thomas, 
Government  of  Pemaquid, 
Good  Judge, 
Goodrich  Elizur, 
Goodwin  Gen.  Ichabod, 
Goodenow  Daniel, 
Goodwin  Major  Samuel, 
Gould  Esther, 
Gyles  Thomas, 


512,  G7.3 

.     513 

522,  524,  534 

523 

72,  526 

531 

89,  185 

128,  209,  431 

.    210 

212 

.     217 

226 

.     256 

265 

.     558 

577 

9,  12 

10,  14,  21 

.       11 

.     10,  11 

.    12,  14,  25 

.     14,  27 

.       30 

169,  171 

.     236 

675,  685 

preface  3,  75 

690,  696 

.  701 

.      32 


Hatch  Nymphas,    . 
Hayes  William  A., 
Hazen  Richard, 
Harvard  College, 
Hallowell  Academy, 
Heard  John, 
Hedge  Temperance, 
Hedge  Frederic  H., 
Herbert  George, 
H  ink  ford  John,    . 
Hillard  George  S., 
Higginson  George, 
Hooke  William, 
Hobart's  Reports, 
Holmes  John, 
Hodge  William,   . 
Hopkins  James  D., 
Hopkins  Thomas, 
Howard  Samuel,     . 
Hovey  Temple,   . 
Holmes  Rev.  Wm., 
Hubbard  Dudley, 
Hudson  Sail}', 
Hunton  Jonathan  G., 
Hubbard  Samuel,    . 
Hunnewell  Richard, 


Habeas  Corpus,  ....  37 

Hayman  Edward  P.,  .  .  128, 215 
Hasey  Benjamin,  .  .  129,  193 
Hall  Joseph,  John,  .        .        .136 

Hartford  Convention,  .         177, 305 

Halifax  Port, 183 

Hasey  Rev.  Isaac,  .  .  .  193 
Hallowell,  ....  199,  660 
Hancock  County,  211,  320,  343,  421 

Hancock  Co.  lawyers,  211,  384,  427 

Hathaway  Jolm,  .        .        .        212 

Hall  Hannah,  .        .         .        .230 

Harrington,  ....        243 

Hale  John  P.,  .        .        .        .369 

Hamlin  Elijah  L.,        .        .        .        453 


128, 


PAGE. 

489 

557 

578 

637 

668 

19 

153 

378 

425 

20 

178,  333 

668 

14,  15 


275 


353,  009 

181,  197 

.     248 

248 

.    269 

328 

.      479,  663 

126,  144,  559,  621 

.     170 

217,218 

.     495 

085 


Inns  of  Court,         ....  123 

Ingraham  Zilpha,        .        .        .  447 

Insane  Asylum,       ....  458 

Inferior  Court,     ....  38 

Irregular  Practitioners,           .        .  83 

Intemperance  of  lawyers,            .  219 

Indian  War  1675,  cost,    ...  25 

Indian  War  1689,        ...  35 

Immigrant  Lawyers,       .        .        .  129 

Instructions  of  Legislature,         455,  630 

Industry, 063 

Jackson,  President,  .  .  629,  630 
Jefferson  (town),  .  .  .  591 
Josselyn  H.,  12,  14,  15,  23,  25,  31,  32,  53 
Josselyn  Sir  Thomas,  .        .  14 

Jordan  Robert,     .        .         23,  25,  32,  53 

Jordan  John, 32 

Johonnot  Samuel  C,  .        .         126,  139 


708 


INDEX 


PAGE. 

Jones  Sir  William,  ,        .        .249 

Jones  Paul,  ....        252 

Jones  William,  .  .  .  406,  665 
Jones  John,  .        .        .         658,  691 

Jones's  Eddy,  .        •        •        .660 

Jury  Trials 37,  45 

Judges  of  Superior  Court,  .  .  38 
Judges  of  S.  J.  C,  40,  42,  74,  266,  683 
Judges  of  C.  P.  Court,  44,  45,  60,  683 
Judges  of  Court  of  Sessions,      .  50 

Judges  of  Probate,  .        .         55, 60 

Judicial  Lives,  ....  176 
Judges  of  Circuit  Court  Com.  Pleas,  514 
Judges  of  U.  S.  Court,        .        .        676 

Kent  Edward,  ,        .        .      171,  456 

Kennebunk,  .        .        .        .        187 

Kennebec  County,  .        .        .    269 

Kennebunk  Caucus,   .        .        .        283 
Kentucky,       .        ...        .        .295 

Kent  George,       ....        346 

Kennebec  Bar,        .        .        .     461,  627 
Kennebec  and  Portland  R.  R.    .        457 
Kinsley  Martin,      ...       45,  433 
King's  Attorney,         ...  82 

King  Cyrus,    .        .        .      128,  232,  282 
Kidder  Reuben,  ....        196 

Kidder  James,        ....    196 

Kinsman  Blary,  ....        208 

Kinsman  Aaron,      ....    208 

King  Richard,      ....        232 

KingRufus, 232 

King  William,  232,  451,  501-504,  547 
Kinsman  Nathan,  ....  274 
Knox,  General  Henry,        .         228, 398 

Lawyers,  Educated,  .  .  27, 56 
Langdon  Timothy,       ...  98 

Lawyers  before  the  Revolution,  .  103 
Law  business  during  Revolution,  104 
Lawyers  after  the  Revolution,  111,  112 
Lawyers  prior  to  1801,  130,  279,  331 

Lawbooks,  .        .        .         141,298 

Lawyers  in  York  Co.,  165,  187,  279,  332 
Lawyers  in  Lincoln  Co.,  .  194,  332 
Land  Titles,        .        .  155,  237,  277 


PAGE. 

Lawyers,  Increase  of,  .  .  331,  338 
Lawyers  in  England,  .        .        331 

Lawyers  in  Cumberland  Co.,  332,  363 
Lawyers  in  Franklin  Co.,  .  .  332 
Lawyers  in  Hancock  Co.,  .  332,  344 
Lawyers  in  Maine,  1840,  .  .  332 
Lawyers  in  1800,  ....  336 
Langdon  Paul,  .  .  .  348, 411 
Lambert  William,  .  .  .  368,  659 
Lambert  Thomas  Ricker,  .  .  369 
Law  School  at  Cambridge,  528,  529,  630 

Lafayette 569 

Lakin  Sybil, 593 

Lane  Colonel  Isaac,  .  .  .  688 
Lewis  Thomas,        .        .        .  9,  12 

Lee  Silas,  ....  126,  152 
Lee  Dr.  Joseph,  ....  152 
Leonard  Oliver,  .  .  .  159 
Leonard  family,  ....  159 
Legislative  Instructions,  .  .  630 
Ligonia  Province,  ....  62 
Little  Josiah  S.,  .  .  .  .  606 
Livermore  JLatthew,   ...  89 

Livermore  Samuel,  ...  89 
Livermore  Elijah,        ...  90 

Lincoln  County,  .  92.  194,  657,  659 
Lincoln  County,  Extent,  .  .  219 
Lithgow  Arthur  and  family,  .  697 
Lithgow  Wm.  Jr.,  .  105,  270,  675 
Lithgow  Wm.,  his  family,  .  .  106 
Lithgow  James  Noble,  .  .  119 
Lincoln  County  lawyers,  .  194,  219 
Livermore  Edward  St.  Loe,  .  263 
Lithgow  Llewellyn  W.,  .  .  270 
Little  John  P.,  .  .  .  .  315 
Lowell  John,  ....  101,  683 
Longfellow  Stephen,  .  .  360,  583 
Longfellow  William,  .  .  360,  671 
Lovewell's  battle,  .  .  .  417 
Loring  Charles  G.,  ...  497 
Lyndo  Benjamin,  .  .  39,  40,  176 
Lyman  Dr., 231 


Mc Worth  Arthur, 
Massachusetts  Claim, 
Maine  first  named. 


.    19,  23 

22,  24,  353 

14 


INDEX 


709 


PAGE. 

Maine  sold  to  Massachusetts,         .      24 


Naval  Enga.,  Ranger  &  Drake,  1778,  252 


McLellan  Judah, 

45,  432 

New  Somersetshire,    . 

12 

Maine,  Earliest  Practitioners  in,           79 

Neale  Francis, 

.       23 

Maine  after  the  Revolution, 

111,113 

Newspaper  Contributors, 

151,  492 

McKinstry  Rev.  John,    . 

.     182 

Nelson  Job, 

.     188 

McGaw  Jacob,      .        210, 257 

,  338,  425 

New  Jlilford, 

236 

Mail  transportation. 

.     278 

New  Gloucester,     . 

273,  403 

Manning  Dr., 

291 

New  Haven  Colony,    . 

388 

Maxcy  Dr.,     . 

.     291 

Nisi  Prius  System, 

40,  41,  43 

Massachusetts  lawyers. 

297 

Nichols  Rev.  Ichabod, 

638 

Maine,  Admission  to  Union,  . 

.     308 

Norridgewock, 

408,  665 

Machias,      .... 

325 

Noyes  Edwin, 

471 

Mason  Jeremiah,    . 

.     351 

Northeastern  Boundary, 

587 

,  600,  616 

Manners  of  the  Bar,    . 

363 

Nullification, 

, 

617,  630 

Maine  Historical  Society, 

485,  619 

Maine  Register,  . 

493 

Oath  of  Attornies, 

.       47 

McKeen  Joseph, 

.    578 

Orr  John,    . 

340,  346 

Mails  and  Postoffice,  . 

654 

Orr  Benjamin, 

.345,  525 

Masonry,          .... 

.     670 

Owen  William,    . 

193 

Marshals  U.  S.  Courts  in  Maine,        677 

Oliver  Peter, 

.       40 

Mellen  Prentiss,    128,  163,  175 

238,  332, 

Otis  H.  G.,  . 

116 

[358,  388 

Offices  held  by  lawyers. 

.     129 

Mellen  .John, 

163 

Orrington,   . 

161,  162 

Mellen  Henry, 

.     164 

Office,  its  long  duration,  64f 

,  652,  659,695 

Mellen  Grenville, 

170 

Officers  of  U.  S.  Courts  in 

Maine,      676 

Merrick  John, 

.     238 

Oxford  Co.  established. 

258,  415 

Merrill  John, 

246 

Means,  Colonel  Robert,  . 

.     339 

Paine  William, 

, 

.       16 

Members  of  Congress  from  Ma 

ine,     457 

Parker's  Island, 

.  34,  133 

Mitchell  Nahum,    . 

295,  300 

Parker  William. 

.       90 

Missouri  Compromise, 

307 

Parsons  Theophilus,      95, 

167, 

201,  245, 

Mitchell  Josiah  W., 

.     314 

[299, 

301 

442,  681 

Mitchell  Dr.  Ammi  R., 

477 

Parker  Isaac, 

126 

132,  189 

Morton  Thomas, 

14,27 

Pratt  Benjamin, 

.     185 

Monhegan  Island, 

29 

Paddelford  Seth, 

190 

Modern  Repoits, 

.      66 

Parris  A.  K.,  . 

286,  565 

Moral  Retributions,     . 

147 

Parris  Martin, 

292 

Morse  Leonard, 

.     314 

Practice  in  Courts, 

.     332 

Monroe  James,    . 

365 

Practice  in  Common  Pleas 

> 

334 

Morgan  Jonathan,  . 

.     475 

Practice,  its  difficulties, 

.     341 

Moody  Samuel,  . 

664,  668 

Page  Lucretia  F., 

463 

Moody  Rev.  Saranel, 

.     671 

Parsons,  Professor, 

527,  630 

Munjoy  George, 

23,  25,  32 

Parris  descent,     . 

566 

MuUins  Priscilla,    . 

.     229 

Pemaquid  Province, 

.       29 

Mussey  John, 

604,  675 

Pemaquid,  Extent, 

34 

10 


Pomaquid  Inhabitants,  . 

Pciiiaquid  Title, 

remuquid  Courts,  . 

Pemuquid  City,  its  trade, 

Perham  David, 

Pleadings,    . 

Perlcy  Nathaniel,   . 

Prentiss  John, 

Prentiss  Rebecca,    . 

Preble  Wm.  P.,  . 

Peterboro', 

Pearson  Moses,    . 

Preble  Abraham,     . 

Preble  Esaias, 

Penobscot  River  seized,  1814, 

Price  Ezekiel, 

Pickering  Timothy, 

Pittston, 

Pickwacket     . 

Phillips  Exeter  Academy, 

Piracy,  first  trial,    . 

Probate  Jurisdiction, 

Plough  Patent, 

Potter  ^Ir.,  . 

Proceedings  and  Pleadings, 

Pond  Samuel  M., 

Probate  Court, 

Pownal  Gov.  Thomas, 

Probate  Judges, 

Probate  Registers, 

Plowdin's  Reports, 

Popham's  Reports, 

Population, 

Poetical  hvwyers. 

Politics,  the  dangers  of, 

Potter  Barrett,    . 

Portland,  its  business, 

Poor  Ebenezer,     . 

Poor  John  A., 

Portland  lawyers. 

Potter  descent, 

Poor  Debtor  Law, 

Political  Change,  1840, 

Political  parties, 

Pope  Elnathan, 

Portland  Riot, 


INDEX. 

PAQB. 

PAOB. 

.       31 

Pownalboro',  .... 

656,  692 

82 

Provincial  Congress,  . 

682 

.       32 

Purchase  Thomas, 

.       12 

33 

Puddington  George,    . 

19 

.       44 

Putnam  James, 

.     185 

40 

Putnam  Henry,  . 

231 

128,  198,  19i) 

Public  Buildings  com'r. 

.     451 

104 

Plymouth  Proprietors, 

449,  450 

.     164 

208,  597 

Quebec,  capture  of, 

.     679 

.     420 

Quirke  William, 

17 

473 

Quincy  Samuel, 

.     185 

.     597 

Quincy  Josiah,    . 

296,  305 

598 

14,        .     670 

Randolph's  sarcasm, 

77,  280 

182 

Rand  Benjamin, 

175 

.     234 

Randolph  J.'s  Eulogy  on  Pickering,  236 

271 

li.  R.,  Kennebec  and  Portland, 

457 

.    417 

R.  R.,  Androscoggin  and  Kennebec,  470 

473 

Revolution  in  England,  1642, 

21 

.     674 

Redding  Richard,    . 

.       32 

.       19,  20,  51 

Records  of  Court, 

41 

22 

Registers  of  Probate, 

56,  60 

32 

Register  of  Deeds, 

60 

,    .         .46 

Reports  and  Reporters, 

63-74 

50 

Reports,  American,     . 

.     67-72 

.       51 

Reports,  Massachusetts, 

.       69 

.  53,  092 

Reports,  Maine,   . 

71 

65,  00 

Reports,  Early  Language  of, 

.      73 

.     56,  60 

Read  John, 

77 

.       64 

Revised  Statutes,    . 

.  1.169 

65 

Readfield,     .... 

217 

125,  128,  105 

Revolution  Scenes, 

681,  691 

171,  228 

Riall  William,      . 

13 

.     228 

Rigby  Sir  Alexander, 

22,52 

268,  388,  477 

Richards  John,    . 

38 

.     301,  390 

Rice  Thomas,          .      179,  181 

,  330,  334 

345 

Rice  Dr.  Thomas, 

182 

345,  003,  613 

Richardson  Alford, 

.     55o 

363,  390 

Robinson  Edward, 

19 

.     388 

Robinson  Francis,  . 

.       19 

441 

Robes  of  Judges, 

41 

.     453,  455 

Rules  of  Practice, 

47,57 

501 

Ruggles  John, 

453 

.     574 

SbO 

Scadlock  William, 

.       13 

INDEX 


711 


454, 
572, 


Sankej'  Robert,    . 

Small  Edward, 

Shapleigh  Nicholas,    . 

Sagadahoc,      .... 

Sargent  Nathaniel  P., 

Salaries  of  Judges, 

Salaries  of  Attornej'  Generals, 

Stacey  George, 

Savage  James,     .  136,  152, 

Shaw  Cemuel,        .        .      176, 

Sparhawk  Thomas  S., 

Sparhawk  Edward  Vernon,    . 

Sparhawk  George, 

Squatters, 

Sprague,  Judge  John, 

Sprague  Peleg, 

Sandy  River, 

Shaw  Charles, 

Shaw  Joshua, 

Saccarappa,     . 

Sprague  William, 

Sessions  Court, 

Sewall  Samuel,   . 

Sewall  David, 

Selden  Calvin,     . 

Sheriffs  in  1800,      . 

Sewall  Jonathan, 

Special  Pleading,    . 

Stebbins  Josiah, 

Selfridge's  Trial,    . 

Sewall  Chief  Justice, 

Sewall  William  B., 

Sebasticook, 

Stebbins  Rowland, 

Senate  of  United  States 

Sewall  Anne, 

Sedgwick  Theodore, 

Separation  of  Maine, 

Shepley  Ether, 

Shepley  descent, 

Shepley  John, 

Shepley  George  F., 

Sewall  Daniel, 

Sewall  descent,   . 

Sewall  Jotham, 

Sewall  Henry, 

Sheppard  John  H., 

Sheppard  John,  . 


40,  84,  123, 


128, 


PAGE. 
17 
.  19 

23 

.       32 

40 

75,79 

75 

126,  146 

489,  490 

466,  496 

206 

.     209 

209 

.     237 

243,  246 

462,  626 

663,  666 

.     590 

591 

.     595 

626 

38,47 

.  38,  176 

633,  673 

.  50,  537 

.       60 

89 

118,  249 

236,  613 

.     134 

135 

136,  488 

183 

.     236 

296,  455 

.     360 

426 

.       607 

453,  619 

619 

.     620 

625 

.     648 

648,  671 

.     649 

647,  671 

.     666 

667 


PAGE. 

Sheriffs  in  Maine,  ....  678 
Smith  John,         ....  16 

Stirling  Lord,  ....      32 

Smith  Samuel  E,  .  44,  143,  169,  614 
Smith  Manasseh,  .  .  126,  141, 614 
Smith  Joseph  E.,  ...  143 
Smith  Manasseh,  Jr.,  .  .  .  143 
Smith  Edwin,  ....  143 
Smith's  Journal,      ....     655 

Stocks, 13 

Stoughton  William,  ...  38 
Stockbridge  Joseph,  .  .  .  100 
Social  Customs  of  the  Bar,  .  .  101 
Stoddard  Amos,  .        .        .        180 

Scotch-Irish,  .  .  .  181,  340,  345 
Story  Isaac,  ....  214 
Story  Joseph,  .      215,  528,  530,  586 

Southgate  Robert,  .  .  232,  404 
Storer  Hannah,  ....  235 
ScoUay  John,  ....  244 
Scollay  Lucy,  .        .        .     244,  246 

Storer  Woodbury,  Sen.,  .  392,  473 
Southgate  Horatio,  .  .  .  403 
Somerset  County,        .        .  409,  537 

Skowhegan, 434 

Storer  Woodbury,  .  .  .471 
Storer  familj',  ....  472 
Storer  Ebenezer,  ....  473 
Soule  Zachariah,  .        .        .        573 

Shurt  Abraham,  [.  .  .  .30 
Superior  Court,  .  .  .  .  38,  39 
Superior  Court  in  Falmouth,  .       39 

Superior  Court  in  Kittory,  .  39 

Sullivan  James,       .        .  40,  95,  687 

Sullivan  John,  .  ...  97 

Sullivan  Ebenezer,  .      126,  144,  150 

Sumner  Samuel,  .        .        .        174 

Sumner,  Fort,  ....     ISO 

Symmes  William,  126,  148,  474,  675 

Symmes  Zachariah,        .         .        .148 


Thacher  George, 
Thatcher  Samuel, 
Thatcher  family, 
Thatcher  Ebenezer, 
Thacher  Peter,    . 
Temple  Inner,  Middle,  &.C., 
Tennev  John  S., 


106,  116 
128,  225 
225 
.     396 
594 
.     123 
preface  3,  74 


712 

INDEX. 

PAOE. 

PAOE. 

Titcomb  Ann, 

.     392 

Waite  family,     . 

678 

Timber  ship,  Tapper's, 

483 

Weston  Nathan,           .   45, 

203, 

510,  540 

Titcomb  Andrew  P., 

.     596 

Wetmore  William,         123, 

125 

128,  191 

Titcomb  Benjamin,     . 

597 

Wrestling,   .        .        .        . 

247,  397 

Tisbury  JIanor, 

.     662 

Webster  Daniel, 

. 

260,  412 

Titcomb  Stephen, 

666 

Weston  Jonathan  D.,   . 

325,  328 

Thornton  J.  VVingate, 

30 

Weston  family. 

.     510 

Trowbridge  Edmund,     . 

.       39 

Weld  Habijah, 

. 

.      700 

Thomas  Joseph, 

.  50,  128,  186 

AVilliams  Thomas, 

9 

Tompson  Rev.  John, 

.     217 

Williams  Richard,  . 

. 

.       19 

Tliomas  Elias,     . 

274 

Winslow  John,    . 

34 

Toppan  Richard,     . 

.     359 

Winthrop  Wait, 

• 

.      38 

Tuclver  Richard, 

20 

Wigs  of  Judges, 

.  41,  124 

Tucker  Nancy  G., 

.       612 

Wigs  of  Barristers, 

123,  124 

Tuttle  Charlotte,    . 

.     432 

Whitman  E.,  44,128,275,289 

354 

,4.36,625 

Tucker  John, 

42 

Widgcry  William,    .        45, 

187 

272,  305 

Tupper  Dr.,     . 

.    483,  484 

Willard  Joseph,    . 

124 

Tyng  Edward,    . 

34 

Wildes  Sylvanus,     . 

126,  187 

Tvng  William, 

.     678 

Wilde  S.'S.,    128,  166,  173, 

204, 

238,  349 

Tyler  Royal, 

105 

Williams  Reuel,      156,  268 
Williams  Gen.  Seth, 

445 

,  569,  601 
.     697 

Upton  Daniel  P.,    . 

.     323, 327 

Wilde  Daniel,      . 

173 

Upton  John, 

324 

White  Samuel, 

. 

.     174 

Upton  George  B.,    . 

.     324 

Winslow  (town). 
Wits  of  the  Bar, 

183,  197 
202,  205 

Vaughan  Charles, 

660,  667 

Wiscasset, 

. 

.     221 

Vaughan  Benjamin, 

667,  671,  695 

Whitwell  Benjamin, 

242 

Vines  Richard,    . 

.     13,  14 

Willis  Rev.  Zephaniah,  . 
Whitman  famih', 

.    276 
2S9 

Wadsworth  Peleg, 

.     107 

Winslow  John, 

. 

.     320 

"SVallingford  George  W., 

129,  252 

White  Daniel  A., 

362 

Warren  George, 

.     178 

Willard  Sidney, 

. 

368,  376 

Warren  Mercy,   • 

178 

Wilson  John, 

420 

Waterville, 

.     197 

Wilson  James, 

.     421 

Wallingford  Lt.  Samuel, 

252 

Williams  Graduates, 

.  446 

Washington  County, 

.      151,  343 

Williams  Seth,     . 

446 

Waterbury,  Conn., 

392 

Whitman  Benjamin, 

. 

.     480 

Wadsworth  Henry, 

.      404 

Whipple  Oliver,  . 

. 

486,  487 

Ware  Ashur, 

416,  550,  634 

Willard  Samuel,      . 

. 

490,  479 

Waterville  College, 

.      469,  549 

Wingate  Joshua, 

. 

500,  568 

Waldoboro', 

481 

Wingate  Mrs.  Joshua,     . 

. 

.    500 

Wadsworth  John,  . 

.     490 

Williamson  William  D.,    . 

617 

Walsh  MichaeU  . 

524 

Wotton  Sir  Henry, 

202 

Ware  Robert, 

.    635 

Wyer  David, 

. 

93,  123 

Ware  Rev.  Henry, 

635 

Ware  family, 

.     635 

Year  Books, 

64 

Ware's  Reports,   . 

71,  642 

York  Co.  Lawyers,       165 

187 

,  279,  401 

Waite  Colonel  John, 

.    678 

York  County, 

166 

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